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Tommy wants to warn the little girl not to steal and do wrong things because he sees himself in her. He wants to stop her from ending up in such a miserable position like he is now. He cares for the girl in a way that he never cared for Rosa. It is apparent that at ht end, the girl isn't cared for well by her mother and stealing was sort of her rebellion and representation of freedom. Tommy himself perhaps was feeling similarly when he bought the slot machine for the shop. But this rebellion backfired on him and he feels responsible to stop the girl from following a similar path to him; he wants to warn her not to abuse the power of freedom that she has. These good intentions Tommy has make us further sympathise towards his character.

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The way the girl sticks her tongue out at his gives us mixed emotions because it can be interpreted in different ways. If it was in mockery, Tommy's efforts went to waste.

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The title "The Prison" is extremely ironic because the prison Malamud is referring to is Tommy's candy shop, where the entire story is set. Candy shops are places where children are excited to go because their parents buy them treats which to them are special. In comparison, prisons have connotations of danger and entrapment. The fact that the Tommy's candy shop is described as a prison is clearly a metaphor for Tommy's loneliness, helplessness, and negative feelings.

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There is hardly an dialogue in the story, until at the climax near the end. Everything in the story had been in Tommy's thoughts, always only in his head but when there is finally dialogue, the speech is confrontational and used in a very dramatic scene. This emphasises the tension at the climax. In fact, not only does Tommy talk, but he "shouts". This represents a breakthrough of Tommy's will to speak, almost resembling a kind of victory for Tommy against his insecurities.

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Malamud creates Tommy as being sort of an "anti-hero" because his inability to communicate and his lack of confidence makes him a character without the features of a typical hero in a story. The author creates a feeling of sympathy towards Tommy by making clear his insecurities and tells us of his bad luck in the past. in addition, his last name is "Castelli", meaning clastle, which is ironic because the candy shop is definitely not a castle.

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It is clear from the beginning that Rosa is the dominant one in the relationship. It is mentioned that she changed his name to Tommy from Tony, suggesting ownership of him. Her name is cleverly chosen by the author. "Rose" resembles pink, flowers, love, beauty, romance - this is ironic because their relationship lacks romance and she's is described as being very "plain". "Agnello" means lamb in Italian and lambs are often used as sacrifice - in a way, both Rosa & Tommy had to sacrifice real love and romance because they were made to marry. Whether they are happy/satisfied with their lives is what validates their sacrifices: was it worth it?

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Tommy's mind and internal voice is trapped too. His insecurities and introvert personality makes it hard for him to communicate his thoughts. His imagination has started to be enclosed too, after being stuck in the candy shop for so long (and especially after the slot machine incident). I think he has lost hope.

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Technically, Tommy is a human being with control over his own brain and body and therefore should be able to make his own decisions and do what he wants in his freewill. However, the harsh consequences that will follow his certain actions (such as running away) has implanted fear within him, which restricts his freedom. This physically imprisons him in the candy shop.

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This story is about Tommy, originally Tony, who owns and runs a candy store with his forced wife Rosa. Their life is generally uneventful until one day, Tommy catches a little girl stealing chocolate. For her own good, Tommy wants to warn her not to do so because he does not want her life to go downhill as his did. However, his introverted self cannot bring himself to do so. In the end, the little girl is caught stealing by Rosa and get in trouble.