Mirtel and Heddi: A Character Comparison

The short story “Tears“ takes place in a Kibbutz somewhere in Israel, It is interesting to see that Martel (Le. main character) and Heddi (Le. his partner) have similarities and differences. However, it seems that there are more differences than similarities, and that is why Martel and Heddi make a very odd couple. Nevertheless, they have much more in common than we think they have some of the similarities between these two characters are that they are both outsiders of the Kibbutz.

We know this because neither Martel nor Heddi are Israeli names, they both showed some na’iveté in their actions and behaviors. For example, Heddi had numerous affairs while single and also while married to Martel. During her single life, she would publicly share her love affairs without shyness however, once married, she did not understand why she could not love more than one person.

It seems that she did not have a sense of wrongdoing, Individuals in the Kibbutz laughed at her, and she was entertaining for all “…one cannot be angry at a child’s excessive sweet tooth” (Megged, p.

46). As a matter of fact, she is referred to as a child, and she spoke innocence “whatever she said came out of innocence” (Megged, p.46). On the other hand, Mirtel is similar to her because, in spite of everyone talking about the affairs Heddi had while being married to him, he did not show any emotions about the affair stories of his wife. We do not know if he knew about it or not, pretended not to know or even if he cared because he would work as usual and sleep deeply.

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It is speculated that he did not see her coming in and out of their family room. In my point of view, Mirtel is behaving native towards his wife because it seems that there is a lack of judgment towards his wife live outside of the home. We assume he knew who she was before marrying to him, and it seems that he did not see any wrongs of her behavior. However, we can only speculate, another similarity of the story is that as an outsider, they both (in different Limefrarne) either leaves or attempts to leave the Kibbutz. For example, Heddi leaves the Kibbutz and aims to follow her lover, and Martel is kicked out of the Kibbutz due to misconduct (e.g. he beat a child because he was defending his son Yossi). An additional similarity is that they both were meticulous about the things they cared about. For example, Heddi was self-disciplined in her conjugal duties, and Mirtel was meticulous in supply tools and taking care of his donkey. Some of the differences are that Heddi was a very sociable and flirtatious woman who liked to have multiple loverst

Also, people in the Kibbutz liked heri On the other hand, Mirtel did not talk much, was not very sociable and was shy around women. Likewise, people around him looked at him as a discarded tool and felt indifferent about him Furthermore, Heddi left the Kibbutz during the daylight (she did not see any wrong/shame that people would see her leaving the Kibbutz) and Martel attempt to abandon the Kibbutz with his son early hours in the morning while it was still dark (preventing the shame of leaving in public).  Overall, it seems that both characters are very different from each other, but they share many similarities and differences however, these factors oddly divide and unite them as a couple.