Rivkeh makes a real effort to help her son and to understand and support him even if this involves exposing him to things that might be "dangerous." In this chapter, she brings him the book The Art Spirit, even though she knows that it says that all great artists need to break free from their nation. Unlike her husband she recognizes that it is better to raise issues and deal with them, even if it is uncomfortable. She tries to engage Asher about her concerns and discuss them.

The reader might notice that the day Asher meets Kahn for the first time, on a Sunday, he also goes to school. It is not uncommon for Jewish schools to be open on Sunday, particularly in Hasidic communities. In such communities, Saturday, not Sunday, is the Sabbath. By treating Sunday as a normal day, they specifically aim to resist the Christian influence, to specifically not act on Sunday as Christians would.