In My Life as a Man and The Professor of Desire, Roth offers a smaller amount of commentary on love. In both novels, the solution of a character’s problem comes from the character’s ability to love another independently. Claire Ovington, from The Professor of Desire, is a woman whom David Kepesh can ultimately love without feeling guilty. Kepesh declares that “Claire is enough”, and he will not try to change her as he attempted to change Helen. This represents the power of true love, because Kepesh has gotten over his desire for a woman “who denies him the emotional attention that his ego-ideal demands” and has learned to love Claire for who she is. Similarly in My Life as a Man, Roth reflects the same ideal in Tarnopol’s final words to Susan when he says “You being you! And me! This me who is me …show more content…
In Defender of the Faith, Roth uses Marx as a representation of a modern Jewish man who struggles with his faith and Jewish identity when a fellow soldier begins to relate with him because of the common faith which they hold. Through his narration, Roth also displays a sense of sympathy towards characters who attempt to change their cultural identity. Roth uses his narrative voice to set up themes that can be easily interpreted as his own personal ideas in his fictional text. In Operation Shylock, he combines Israeli politics with a satiric voice. He does this to show his opinion of the Israeli and Jewish politics while staying away from a harsh critical tone. Through dialogue, Roth illustrates his conception of the Jewish world and the way in which it is moving (Gadat). Roth continues to present the reader with insight on the social and cultural issues of his times. Generally, Roth is concerned with society and the values which it holds in many of his works. In Goodbye, Columbus, Mr. Patimkin sets an extra place at the table for Mickey Mantle, an athletic superstar during Roth’s time. This scene represents a loss of Jewish tradition, as this