The author Sholem Aleichem describes Tevye as a wise Jewish dairyman of a Russian village who can readily quote the Bible or some other holy text on any occasion. The majority of the short novel is about Tevye's struggles to marry his seven daughters, only Tsaytl, Hodl, Chava, Shprintze, and Beilke's situations are described. Tevye is conflicted between modern thinking and Jewish traditions when it comes to these marriages. Each time that Tevye has a daughter to marry off his Jewish traditions are conflicted with modern views and he comes to into situations where he must choose between the two.
Tevye is directly confronted with modern ways and views as against the Jewish traditions when marrying his daughters. Tevye goes to Efrayim the Matchmaker to traditionally multiple times to arrange marriages for his daughters. All of the arranged marriages are rejected, except for the case of his youngest daughter Beilke, which is major dilemma in the story. In the chapter Today's Children, you see this happen when Tsaytl is arranged to marry the wealthy man Layzar. Tevye is initially ecstatic about the situation, but he talks with Tsaytl and has the realization that she hates the idea of it and actually has another lover, so he sympathizes with her. Tevye undermines the authority of tradition and the marriage matchmaker, by creating a humorous phony dream that convinces his wife that Tsaytl must not marry Layzar. This leads to the arranged marriage being off, which is something that is unprecedented in Jewish tradition. Marriage customs were typically strict around the early twentieth century; Jews would sometime be engaged as early as age one. Even if the two people didn't like each other, they would have would have to get married. Though Tsaytl's marriage situation was one that more so resembled a wealthy who wanted to purchase a cow than the seriousness of a long-term marriage arrangement, a women getting out of there parents arrangements because she did not like the groom was unheard of in that time.
In the days when Tevye and his family lived, they didn't have that luxury. ... The Russians controlled everything that Tevye's town did, and they eventually kicked them out of their town. ... was sung when Tevye found out that his oldest daughter was to be married because she was in love, not because she was forced to marry. ... was also sung by Tevye. ...
