At the end of chapter six, Asher's father comes home from Vienna to spend some time with his family for Pesach. During his visit at home, he gets into many fights with his wife about how she is raising their son, Asher. Part of the these arguments is attributed to the fact that Asher has been visiting museums and has been using oil colors bought for him by his mother. I think the other cause for these arguments is Mr. Lev's love for his son. Now that he can't be there to monitor his son's maturation from a boy to a man, he wants to make sure that his son is being properly looked after and cared for. This is proved by a statement from Asher's mother even later in the chapter. She says, "He has many responsibilities. And he sees you not learning. He thinks you will become a goy. He doesn't want to go back to Vienna. But he also doesn't want to remain here and stop his work in Europe." Asher's father is torn between his family and the responsibilities of his job.
During Mr. Lev's visit at home, he also tries to convince Asher that drawing is sinful. He claimed that every man has a will and Asher's will to draw is "an evil will," one that comes from the Other Side and must be fought. He tells Asher, "You will fight it. You will not waste your life with goyische foolishness . . . Better you should not have been born." I think this pushed Asher to the point of being seriously angry at his father. Before this occurrence, the main thing that he and his father disagreed about was Asher's art. Now, however, Asher's father had told his own son that he should not have been born. This definitely did not boost Asher's self-esteem or allow him to enjoy his father's stay at home.
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