We'll get rid of you
A closer look at Malamud's Editing Process:
“If I did I don’t want it any more. Listen, Levin, Wwhy the hell don’t you go back where you came from—to the stinking goddamn New York subways?”
“I’m here to stay,.” said Levin. Levin barely believed it.
He felt sick as he said this. He wished he were anywhere but here, doing anything but this.
“That’s what Duffy somebody else thought who is no longer with us. We’ll get rid of you the same just as we did him.”
Until then Levin Though the instructor had borne up fairly well till then,. Now he Gilley’s threat made him wilted. He might have collapsed discovered his ass on the floor, had he not heard Gilley the acting head’s desperate voice asking him to be reasonable.
(In the published version, Malamud condensed these last two paragraphs into one)
Afterwards Hhe felt later a dark sense of isolation. He was not meant to be the enemy. He was for a peaceful man. This wasn’t his way of life.
Contextual note:
The above interaction follows two significant plot advancements: Fairchild's death and Levin’s declaration of his own candidacy for head of the department. It is placed as the conclusion to a heated exchange between Gilley and Levin where Gilley accuses Levin of blackmail, but the interaction makes it clear that Gilley is the one who intends to use blackmail against Levin. A significant shift between editions is the replacement of names in the second to last paragraph to the roles of each participant: instructor for Levin and acting head for Gilley.
