Reading Patrimony, one moment (although somewhat brief) that I found to be significant is Roth’s description of his grandfather’s blue shaving mug. To him, it is not just a mug, but the “one family heirloom” (27). He describes how his grandfather had always been a distant figure in his life, speaking only Yiddish and not “given to fondling the American grandchildren” (27). Roth says the mug “ . . . brought him much more fully to life for me, not as a grandfather but, even more interestingly then, as an ordinary man among men” (27). For Roth, the mug symbolizes his grandfather’s momentary respite in a barber’s chair from “the exigencies that had trapped him and that . . . accounted for his austere, uncommunicative nature” (28). Roth seems to feel he can foster a connection with his grandfather through the mug that he never could in real life. Roth continues, “His mug emitted the aura of an archaeological find, an artifact signaling an unexpected level of cultural refinement, an astonishing superfluity in an otherwise cramped and obstructed existence – in our ordinary little Newark bathroom, it had the impact on me of a Greek vase depicting the mythic origins of the race” (28). Such diction shows how truly Roth cherishes the mug. Further on in the memoir, Roth’s father gives him the mug as a gift (118).
What I find interesting is that Roth's father has saved his father's mug, but he chooses to discard his own wife's things after her funeral. As Roth's father throws objects the mother had saved into a garbage bag, Roth says, "he was simply doing what he had done all his life: the next difficult job" (Roth 31). He wants to "rid the apartment of them... because he refused to sidestep the most brutal of all facts" (Roth 33).
ReplyDeleteDoes he think the shaving mug is simply more useful for him to save than memories of his wife? And, if he does the difficult jobs seemingly easily, how will he handle the news of his illness?
I also found it odd that Herman Roth discarded his wife's belongings immediately after she was buried. Perhaps the situation was simply too devastating for him. By ridding himself of objects that instantly trigger painful memories, Herman did not constantly have to face overwhelming emotions he was unable to handle. Roth writes, "Never in his life, as far as I knew, had he been one to try to elude the force of a dreadful blow, and yet, as I later learned, on the evening of her death he had fled from her corpse" (33). It almost seems like it is easier for Herman to not fully acknowledge the situation than to confront such intense emotions. However, Roth writes, “It seemed to me that it was not out of fear of her things and their ghostlike power that he wanted to rid the apartment of them without delay . . . but because he refused to sidestep the most brutal of all facts” (33). While it seems like Herman is unwilling to fully acknowledge the situation, it also seems like he is forthrightly accepting it at the same time.
ReplyDeleteYou both have insightful ideas and good questions about how Herman Roth deals with loss. The blue shaving mug is certainly a relic from the family's past, a symbol not only of their endurance as Jewish immigrants, but their ability to cherish the little luxuries in life (like a weekly shave).
ReplyDeleteHow does Philip Roth view his family's history and his role in the family?
You both found it odd how Herman quickly disposed of his wife's possessions--let's try to get a clearer understanding of how he sees objects and possessions. In chapter 3, Philip Roth discusses his father's tefillin (small leather boxes holding scrolls inscribed with verses from the Torah that observant Jews wear during weekday morning prayers). Philip finds out that his father "gave away" his tefillin by putting it in a brown paper bag and leaving it in a locker at the local YMCA. What motivates this strange behavior?