After World War II, in a time that would later be called the Postwar Era, home ownership was at an all time high. Families began to settle down in areas, which had begun to be called the suburbs. There was a new economic climate in the air after the war, and people were much more able to realize the dream of homeownership. The American dream became to live in suburbia, and people thought that once there, they had finally made it in life. The message to aspiring young families across the nation was clear: go to suburbia and build your dream. Philip Roths Goodbye Columbus details the relationship between Brenda Patimkin and Neil Klugman and their difference in social classes. Brenda has recently entered a much higher class than he is, since her family has made a lot of money and no longer lives in Newark, New Jersey, where Neil lives with his aunt and uncle. It follows the progression of Brenda and her family, and through Neil as the narrator it offers his views and thoughts of what they are becoming. This novella is a parallel to the actual change that many families of the working class under went during the post war period with an upward trend into the middle class. And this theme is shown through Neils views of Brenda and her families change in Goodbye Columbus.
Neil Klugman is a twenty-three Jewish kid who works at a public library living with his Aunt Gladys and Uncle Max. Brenda is also Jewish, and is a student at Radcliffe College in Boston, Massachusetts. Neil first meets Brenda at a country club swimming pool where Brenda asked him to hold her glasses while she swam in the pool. From the beginning of this book it is clear that Brenda and Neil come from different world; Neil being of the working class living in Newark, New Jersey and Brenda who lives in the upper class suburbs of Short Hills, New Jersey. One of the major themes in Goodbye Columbus along with one of the central dynamics of Neils relationship with Brenda is their division of class. Neil and Brenda come from completely different worlds socioeconomically, and their one similarity seems to be that they are both Jewish. While Brenda is playing tennis and driving golf balls, Neil is driving an old tan Plymouth (8). Brendas family did in fact start out where Neil is currently residing, but in the postwar period they, like many other Americans rose in class and moved to the suburbs. A great difference between Brenda and Neil is that Brenda takes much pride in her appearance and clearly spends time and money to make it the best I can be. She had a nose job to remove the bump in her nose, which in the story is classified as a diamond. It is a Jewish characteristic to have this bump in ones nose, however Brenda wanted it removed and her father had paid to have Brendas diamond removed and dropped down some toilet in Fifth Avenue Hospital (28). This is an example of the conformity that plagued the Postwar Era and the suburbs, something that Neil cannot understand. Those who lived in the suburbs all seemed to conform to one another and those who stood out were viewed as outcasts. Whereas Mr. Patimkin would never bother to have that stone cut from his face (28), Brenda eagerly wants it removed so that she too may look like the rest of the people residing in Short Hills. Mr. Patimkin later even recognizes his childrens loss of their Jewish heritage in their efforts of conformity, even claiming his children are goyim, a derogatory term for non-Jewish people.
After several weeks of dating, Brenda invites Neil to stay a week at her parents house. While he is there, although he is supposed to be sleeping the guest room, every night he and Brenda share a bed and sleep together. Neil in this time however begins to realize Brendas insecurity and dependence on her parents approval for everything that she does. Brenda asks Neil, do you love me (88), but before letting him answer assures him that she intends to continue sleeping with him whether he does or not. This assertion that Brenda make suggests that she regards her relationship with Neil as purely physical and draws question to if there is true feelings behind their relationship. It is evident throughout the entire novella that Neil and Brenda have very different perceptions of love. Brendas concept is a very shallow acuity and she is blind to what love actually is, telling Neil that he does not lover her yet, but when he does therell be nothing to worry about (97). Brenda does not realize that Neil has legitimate love for her, and her perceptions of love shadow his true feelings because she can simply not understand it. Brenda and Neils relationship throughout this book seems to rely completely on the physical aspects of it.
Neil and Brenda never work as a legitimate couple because she is much less independent than he is. They come from different worlds, and are two complete character foils to each other. While Neil has no problem working for himself Brenda finds trouble distancing herself from her parents and being independent, whereas Neil is completely independent working for himself. Brenda claims that all their differences will be diminished once he loves her (97). This demonstrates Brendas skewed views of love. It seems as if she is using love as a mean of escape from a life as a puppet to her parents, in a relationship with someone on a purely physical basis, and struggling to find her independence in life. Neil on the other hand however is interested in committing to Brenda in a relationship that has authentic feelings behind it. And this is why their relationship ultimately fails, because of Brendas inability to understand what love actually is. She needs to learn that falling in love will not solve all your problems, and if that is the reason for progressing in a relationship then they will never end up falling love. Brenda and Neil are a good match for each other in the physical sense, but in reality they will never be able to fall in love. Neils relationship with Brenda is destined for failure from the start. It is an immature infatuation of each others physicality, but beyond this there is no further feelings.
The sexual encounters between Neil and Brenda are a very important topic in this book because that is primarily the extent of their relationship. Their lovemaking provides much insight into Neil and what he is hoping to get out of this relationship. When he first has sex with Brenda he describes it as winning (74). Using this word as a metaphor for some sort of contest he is in, in relation to his relationship with her. This game that he thinks he is a part of is symbolic of a socioeconomically rise in class for him. This was a common theme of all Americans at this time who thought that the ultimate success was an upper move in class and living the life that Brenda and her family lives. It was a new culture that was sweeping the postwar era in which the main goal on the forefront of everyones mind was to move up in class and eventually end up residing in the suburbs. Brendas family exemplifies a family who has achieved this goal, and Neil thinks that through Brenda he will achieve this goal. He is suckling at the tit of Brendas familys success, and this is the reason he feels that all of his sexual explorations with him are in the form of a game.
At one point in this novella Neil ponders whether or not he should propose to Brenda, however instead decides to ask her to wear a diaphragm as a symbol of their defiantly intimate relationship out of wedlock (90). Initially Brenda refuses this suggestion by Neil, but has he continues to press her to do so she gives in. This is perhaps because this is the first thing Neil has asked of her in hopes of pleasing him. Previously Neil has been changed by Brenda making him fit into the Patimkin family, and Neil feels it is finally time for him to assert himself in hopes of continuing to keep his manhood. At the end of two weeks of Brenda and Neil living together Neil drives Brenda to the train station to go back to college in Boston. For several weeks they continue to talk by letter and phone calls. Eventually she invites him up to Boston over the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah. When Neil arrives at college they check into a hotel under the names of Mr. and Mrs. Klugman. Brenda however tells Neil that her mother found her diaphragm in a drawer and that bother her parents are very disappointed in this newfound discovery. She informs Neil that she is not only unable to face her parents anymore but can no longer see Neil to which Neil leaves the hotel in a tizzy, crying and thinks Brenda was crying too (135). He catches the train home just as the sun was rising on the first day of the Jewish New Year (136).
Philip Roth is clearly having a very strong stance on his view of the Postwar Era and what it can do to a family. He shows through Neils narration that this rise in class can change people. It changed the Patimkin family, and Neil was changed through Brenda hoping to become everything the Patimkin family was. Everyone aspired to live in the suburbs being part of the middle class, but the journey to get there sometimes left people behind. In Neils aggressive upward trend his Aunt Gladys is left behind and she feels very upset with the changes that she is seeing in him. All in all Philip Roth is taking a negative stance against having the new American dream be moving to suburbs. He rejects this dream, and in Goodbye Columbus is putting an anti-Suburban spin on his novella. In a new world where living in suburbia meant that you had finally made it Philip Roth offers a unique off-putting take on this culture.
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