Character Analysis
What's with all the old folks in this story? Mr. Rappaport is "nearly blind" and "very old, older even than Dr. Adler, and if you believed Tamkin he had once been the Rockefeller of the chicken business and had retired with a large fortune" (5.41). He's also a regular at the brokerage office, and when Wilhelm sits beside him on his "day of reckoning," the old man asks him periodically for updates on the figures.
Mr. Rappaport's interruptions may be annoying, but it's something else that he does that causes Wilhelm real anxiety and trouble. As Wilhelm and Tamkin return to the brokerage office after lunch, Mr. Rappaport catches Wilhelm outside the door and demands that he escort him to a nearby cigar shop. Because the old man is so very old, and his vision so very poor, Wilhelm feels obligated to help him. By the time the two return to the brokerage office, Tamkin has disappeared, and Wilhelm is left to face his staggering losses alone.
Is Mr. Rappaport's insistence just a bit of unfortunate timing, or has Tamkin planned this little distraction all along? We can't say for sure, but one thing is certain: if it really is an accident, then the universe is dealing some pretty bad cards to Wilhelm today.