At first glance, it may seem preposterous to assume any connection between the cold, empty, distraught Mr. Nazerman and the kinetic, vibrant, yet tested ethnic population around him. They seem like polar opposites: one, a stone cold judge, emotionally shutdown, dealing his rulings from behind his Pawnshop counter; the other, representative of the struggling immigrant experience, bent on survival, yet socially active participants in their own community. The ethnic inhabitants of Harlem are portrayed, usually face centered in the frame for added intimacy, trying to squeeze every penny out of their pawned items, while on the other side of the counter, Mr. Nazerman plays the other side, decider of their fate, expressionlessly stating his price.
While these two sides appear to be on opposites sides of the social “counter,” they are in fact stuck in similar situations. Both Mr. Nazerman and every other individual that steps into his store are confined to a life of struggle and adversity, in which earning money is the only way to guarantee livelihood. In some way, Mr. Nazerman’s speech about the importance of money holds true in Harlem. While the pawnbroker has taken this maxim to the extreme, repressing emotion and organized philosophical beliefs in exchange for a monotonous, robotic life with its end at acquiring wealth, the immigrant stumbling into his shop is forced to live in similar ways. Rodriguez and Ortiz, for an example, are both forced organize life around money. In such a way, both parties are confined, trapped in an environment with no end but earning money to survive.
The concentration camp in which Mr. Nazerman was detained in bears similarities to his locale in Harlem, both being confined societies in which direction is taken from some higher order of social organization. Flashbacks, keenly positioned at times in which Mr. Nazerman’s memory is violently sparked, help connect these two ghettos. The bleak, jail-esque interior of the pawnshop physically confines Nazerman from the outside world, all the while keeping the struggling population of Harlem from the money they need. The dual nature of confinement present in Harlem is the key component that connects Nazerman to this old prison. His loss of faith in mankind, his view of those on the other side of his barred counter as scum–they all stem from the fact that he is trapped, detained from happiness by the cruelty of both old and new world.
