Helloooo Neil and Lou. Goodbye to power Jewish American Writers Amanda Heck The Richard Stockton of New Jersey

The seconds of life are carried away by the winds father time creates. With in each and everything second that passes, a person becomes more prone to an action or thought that can result in the birth of a new them. In the short stories Goodbye, Columbus and Epstein, Philip Roth, “the self hating Jew”, combines the use of time, multiple themes, and the main male characters to depict the journey in self-realization and the birth of two new people.
Goodbye, Columbus revolves around the story of Neil’s journey to self-realization and growth through the major theme of power through the use of sex and money as well as the journey to achieve the American Dream. Philip Roth uses the old and new Jewish religion to show how much of a power grasp it has over Neil. To Neil, Brenda’s family is extremely different from his own because of their type of religion and standings in society’s eyes. Neil is apart of the Old Jewish religion while Brenda is apart of the New Jewish religion. The Old Jewish religion represents Neil’s life and family in the beginning of the novella. The use of Aunt Gladys’ “abundance of the other (fruit) jamming her refrigerator.”(Roth 1959 p.6) compared to Brenda’s which “fruit grew in their refrigerator” demonstrates their standings with in the American Jewish society and Neil’s displacement over his current standing at the time. Neil is a librarian, who is apart of a middle class Jewish family. Though he should be happy, the temptation to become a part of Brenda’s world, which, was filled with so much more power and a better life, consumed him. To Neil, if he could become part of Brenda’s family he could gain a higher standing and in essence his fulfillment of the American Dream. This consumed his thoughts and action. It can be considered that he abandoned his family in his journey to become apart of the New Jewish culture to gain more in life till the end of the novel because of how he constantly was with Brenda. Neil can be compared to a racehorse; the blinders placed on the side of his head can only make him see what is a head of him not around him. This misguided fool was blinded by power and could not see his family, which was around him, supporting him the whole time.
Sex can influence the majority of humans because of the pleasurable like qualities. The desire for more power allowed Neil to believe he was madly in love with Brenda. In reality though Neil envisions Brenda as a sex object and money, which resulted in the creation of two power hungry people. Brenda is a symbolized as a sex object due to the strong hold of power she has over men. She is use to getting what she desires in life because of the constant spoiling her father allowed her to receive. Brenda is a powerful woman because of her standings society and actions. If Neil could tame this power he to would be successful and apart of the New Jewish religion like he has desired. Sex has created nothing but, pain and deceit within the relationship of Neil and Brenda. This is what caused it to end as it did. As the false love and the sex disappeared from the relationship so did Neil’s hunt for the search for power.
Epstein is the story of an older man going through a form of a mid life crisis. Philip Roth in corporates the stress of the owning a business, marriage, and parenthood into a similar situation from what Neil desired from Brenda from Goodbye Columbus. A chance to gain power. Lou desired the power to regain his past. He wanted his wife and him to be young and “handsome people ”(Roth 1959 p 204) again just like any other person. Surrounded by youthful people in his home having a grand old time and who are “good eaters”(Roth 1959 p207) Lou becomes somewhat jealous and feels old. Sex is a powerful influential force that can drive anyone to do anything, especially an old man who wants to regain the essence of his power filled youth. Lou then proceeded to have an affair on his wife. He felt as if though he was young once more because of how the woman proceed to laugh at his jokes and the sex. A pretty woman like that is hard to come across by and Lou got it in. This sense of power helped destroy him in the end due to one simple rash.
The rash in the story Epstein is extremely symbolic. The power of the rash allowed Lou to have gain the power of self-realization of what his mid life crisis had done. He cheated on his significant other, though he screamed at his daughter “Respect your father!”(Roth 1959 p215) he gained none, and he lost his health. Instead of gaining more power to be young and youthful again, he lost it due to a heartache but, something interesting happened. At the end of the novel the doctor “lifted for a moment the blanket that covered Epstein’s nakedness”(Roth 1959 p230) to check on the rash Goldie described. She asked if he could clean it up and he told her “ So it’ll never come back”(Roth 1959 p230). The rash can symbolize the return of the power Lou once had instead of the one he tried to gain. This rash almost caused him to lose everything because of how he had an affair to try to regain the power of his youth. The bumps symbolize the rough road ahead because of the mistake and the redness indicates the embarrassment he will face as well.
Lou and Neil are two similar men influenced by the power they wished to obtain. The use of women, sex, and desire for a better future blinded them from the true power they once held within their hands. Philip Roth used religious imagery and descriptions to install the feelings of pain with in the hearts of these men that power has given them.
The journey to gain power can try to be achieved in multiple ways. Neil and Lou were both men trying to gain power through sex to create a better life. They believed that sex was the answer to all but, just as stated in one of my other papers everyone reverts back to their old selves because of the torment the search for power has brought them. Neil and Lou’s journeys can be compared to the journeys of the Amish teenagers exploring modern society. They feel powerful and mystified by the wonders the journey has brought them but, in the end the revert back to their past because it is familiar and safe. The chance to gain power is so influential it can destroy a person’s life in a matter of seconds. Philip Roth uses religion, wealth, sex, and/or the American dream to influence these into a sense of realization. These stories have a similar lesson that Philip Roth is trying to teach through his writing, do not ever let the light of power blind you from what you should truly value.