If Tevye has an Achilles’ heel, it centers around the truth of Levenson’s last remark. When we first meet Tevye singing “Tradition,” there is no mistake about his parental role in the family: “Who has the right, as master of the house, to have the final word at home? The papa, the papa—tradition!” As each of his daughters falls in love, however, Tevye finds that the firm grip he once held on tradition has somehow loosened. The tradition he insisted on at first, “to marry whomever