Phillip Roth's Goodbye, Columbus

However, we run across that Neil also has a negative view of Brenda as a girl with " richly walls of ego that rose, stilltresses and all, between her and her knowledge of herself" (Roth 13).

In actuality, Neil is the one who has a wall of ego and pride that separate him from knowledge of himself. We call for that Neil quite much lies about himself. He tells Brenda, "I'm not readying anything. I'm not a planner. I'm a liver" (Roth 36). We know that this is emphatically not the case with Neil. He is not a "liver," but instead spends his time dreaming and in time-wasting pursuits. We see that he is not ambitious in his job at the library, whiling past his time while there by playing tic-tac-toe and Battleship. If Neil were a liver and not a planner, he would flummox a Columbus or the Negro boy in his Tahiti dream instead of dreaming of them.

We see that Neil is wont to plunk others for his station in spirit. This is true of his p bents, who he tells us atomic number 18 penniless deserters who moved to Arizona because of their asthma conditions. He is often resentful of others. We see this when he is angry and righteously outraged when he is asked to baby-sit for Julie. He is also filled with fear. He compares himself to the Patimkin's maid Carlota, maintaining that they are both servants because they were both "wooed and won on Patimkin fruit" (Roth 55).

Neil's resentments are also directed toward the Patimkin's, who he sees as symbols of greed and clothism that do not provide mea

ning in life. He maintains that the Patimkin's and their ilk are mere stereotypes of human beings, concerned more than with physical appearance, hearty luxury and climbing up the social ladder than any genuine feeling or meaning. He maintains that he dislikes them "not because they are false, but because they prevent him from being true to himself" (Roth 39). However, we see that despite Neil's perception of the Patimkin's as nouveau riche who have few morals and are enslaved by material trappings he seems to yearn to be one of this class. When he is packing to visit the Patimkin estate, he thinks "Aunt Gladys proverb me packing my bag and she asked where I was going. I told her.

She did not answer and I thought I saw awe in those red-rimmed hysterical eyes I had come a long way since that day she's express to me on the phone, ?Fancy-schmancy'" (Roth 40). At a later point in the novella, Neil tells us "Perhaps I was more of a businessman than I thought. Maybe I could learn to become a Patimkin" (Roth 85). In actuality, Neil ego, pride and childish resentments make him unable to operate himself as the man he dreams of being. Instead, he is nothing more than a lump of clay that is shaped by forces and individuals in his life.

In conclusion, though he finds his lack of meaning and chance in life the result of a godless and material society, Neil's proclaim pride and ego keep him from gaining greater sixth sense and knowledge about himself. Because of this, instead of becoming someone he skill admire or someone who would find life meaningful, he arises up feeling alone and empty because of his receive inabilities and failures. Had he acted properly with Brenda it is quite possible he might have found such an existence for himself, but he cannot muster the strength or the courage to become his own ideal man. Instead, he is prey to the forces and people around him that wind up shaping his pathetic self.

We see that Neil treats Brenda no bette
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