Role Reversal in Patrimony!

Am I stealing that title from someone else? If I am, sorry! It's been a long while since I finished the book (I was really good about getting summer reading done quickly this year!), so some of what I write may be inaccurate. By all means, let me know if it is! I also forewarn that this post is going to be somewhat generic--everyone else has already commented on such great things, I don't how much more there is to say! But I'll try my best to be detailed and not boring. I was just remembering when Philip takes a trip to Florida to visit Herman. Herman lives with one of his friends, whose name I can't recall. Anyway, I definitely recall Herman trying to get his friend to go out and mingle, because the ladies love him. However, he always says no, that he doesn't need to go out. When I thought of the friend's attitude, I couldn't help but think of Herman throughout the book, as he suffers with his brain tumor. I realize it's not exactly his fault, but rather a symptom of the disease, but it seems that now Herman is the one who doesn't want to go out, but rather wants to sit in his stuffy apartment all day and occasionally have his lady friend (name?) over, although most of the time I don't even think he wants her around. So, basically, I just found the role reversal of Herman and his friend to be very interesting and definitely not a coincidence. I guess it's like they say, what goes around comes around!

Survival

Throughout the book I noticed a theme of survival. First of all Philip's father, Herman, has a brain tumor that will eventually cause his death. Given the option to get it removed with a chance at success, he decided to fight through the tumor and let it slowly kill him. While wasting away, what could be perceived as pure stubbornness, his cataract surgery, was him fighting for his independence. Herman knew he was going to die and his war with the tumor was over but he could still fight and win one battle -his sight. Another survivalist with a lesser role I saw was Joanna. Joanna, a recovered alcoholic friend of Philip, was the person he chose to talk to about his fathers eminent demise. The reason he had chosen her was that she was a survivor, too. during his conversation Philip came to the realization that "that was what she shared with [his] father and what [he] prized in both of them: survivorship, survivorhood, survivalism" (125). Another way the theme of survival showed up was the holocaust and Roth's Jewish heritage. Brought up mainly by Walter Herrmann, who had himself survived the holocaust first hand and had written a book of his "experiences". There was also more mention of survival in the chapter "They Fought Because They Were Fighters, and They Fought Because They Were Jews adding to the many other survivalist in the book. I think this book has other themes such as memory and patrimony itself which I have yet to fully ponder, but I see survival as one of the main themes.

Reciprocity and Memories

Like Marcus said, the novel is a way to preserve not only Herman himself, but also his stories and memories. Roth writes, “I must . . . remember everything accurately so that when he is gone I can recreate the father who created me” (177). That idea leads to another thread I noticed throughout the novel – reciprocity. As Nicole said, Philip assumes a parental role when dealing with his father, causing Herman to state, “Philip is like a mother to me” (181). However, Philip’s motives seem to be more than simply acting as a parent to an ill father out of obligation. He truly feels gratified after cleaning up after his father in the bathroom. He wants to remember everything so that he can “recreate” the man who created him. Philip has a desire to reciprocate and give back all that his father gave him. I think that reciprocity is another part of Philip’s definition of true patrimony.

On a somewhat different note, perhaps Herman discards objects because to him it is the memories that matter and the objects themselves are meaningless. Yes, Herman immediately cleared the apartment of his wife’s possessions after her death. However, by no means did he forget her. Philip writes, “Over and over again he recounted for me the pure prosaicness of the seconds preceding her death . . .” (36). He is unable to forget a single detail, nor does he seem to want to, even though the memories are incredibly painful. Herman preserves people and memories by word of mouth, and it is up to Philip to write them down. Herman also got rid of objects that others considered valuable, like the tefillin and Philip’s stamp collection. He even returns gifts given to him by his family. Philip writes, “Little by little I took everything back, struck each time by how inconsequential to him was the sentimental value . . . of things intended to betoken the love of those he most cherished” (91). For Herman, the true value seems to come with memories and people associated with objects, not the objects themselves. Lastly, memories served as a source of comfort for Herman throughout his ordeal, which likely accounts for why he valued them so greatly. Philip writes, “On and on, remembering the illnesses, the operations, the fevers, the transfusions . . . the deaths, the burials – his mind . . . working to detach him from the agonizing isolation of a man at the edge of oblivion and to connect his brain tumor t a larger history, to place his suffering in a context where he was no longer someone alone with an affliction peculiarly and horribly his own but a member of a clan whose trials he knew and accepted and had no choice but to share” (71).

A Father's Gift and a Son's Growth

In response to the question in Jason's post about Philip's true patrimony, I believe that Philip's inheritance is his father's role as a record keeper. As Emily said, Roth's definition of patrimony differs from the conventional meaning in that property is not the primary component of his inheritance. While the property like the shaving mug from his father may serve as keepsake for Roth, the real value comes from the memories and historical knowledge his father passes on to him. By telling Philip the stories of his family, Herman gives him something more than any possession. Herman is passing on his duty as family historian. As Jason mentioned, Herman believes that the most important thing one can have is a memory of the past. Without memories, a man is made of nothing. In the time after the tumor is discovered, Herman reminisces of his childhood and the family members that came before Philip's time. Philip not only remembers the stories but puts many of them into print in this book ensuring that they will be remembered and reread for many years after he would be able to tell them. He also enhances the history his father gives him by doing his own research. The book he buys and gives to his father called The Jewish Boxers' Hall of Fame brings back memories he had from his own childhood and gives him insight into one of his father's favorite pastimes. Even though Philip did not enjoy boxing, he made an effort to learn about it and add it to his memoir because his father "still enjoyed enormously watching boxing on television" (202). By the end of the story Philip has not only taken his father's role and motto that one must never forget anything, but has also done the one thing that Herman could not do himself- make sure that he was remembered and his story was told.

Central Ideas from Final Chapter (should be two separate posts)

“They Fought Because They Were Fighters, and They Fought Because They Were Jews”

The final chapter in Patrimony elevates this memoir to a different level and makes everything come full circle. While seemingly pointless at first, the mention of the Jewish boxing Hall of Fame book serves an important purpose. All of these boxers competed because they were fighters and because they were Jews. For millennia, the Jewish people have been persecuted and targeted, which means that they have often had to fight for their survival. But this did not stop the boxers; more often than not, they were successful in their matches. Herman, himself, had to deal with adversity and conflict throughout his life. Philip likens Herman to the Jewish boxers by mentioning Herman’s “battle to make good against so many obstructive forces” (237). He never attended high school, he moved up the ranks in the primarily non-Jewish Metropolitan Life insurance company (which was noted for its Anti-Semitic practices on pgs. 181-182), and he endured the struggle of his tumor that ultimately gets the best of him. Moreover, he faced the horrible news of many early deaths and tragedies in his family and the fact that millions of his fellow Jews were decimated during the Holocaust, which occurred when he was about 40. How did he handle all this? He fought. He fought because of his stubborn, tough-minded makeup and because he was Jewish, just like the boxers in the Hall of Fame book. While he often criticized Lil and his wife for their faults, Herman was steadfast in his beliefs and had considerable conviction, which enabled him to “knock out" the many struggles in his life. What does this comparison (Herman to Jewish boxers) say about both Philip and Herman? Even though he never actually competed in a boxing match, do you think Herman deserves an "honorary spot" in the Jewish boxing Hall of Fame?

“You Must Not Forget Anything”

Herman embraced his family history and prided himself on it. During his lifetime, he told stories and recalled his past to anyone and everyone, even if it was the last thing they wanted to hear. This type of lifestyle prompts Philip, when reflecting on his father, to tell one of his friends: “You mustn’t forget anything—that’s the inscription on [Herman’s] coat of arms. To be alive, to him, is to be made of memory—to him if a man’s not made of memory, he’s made of nothing” (124). In contrast to Herman being forthright and “owning” his struggles, Walter Herrmann (first appearing on pg. 208) attempts to forget his darkest life experiences. Instead of writing about his time in the concentration camps and how he survived the Holocaust, Walter Herrmann chooses to deflect the pain by writing about having sex with many girls in Germany. Perhaps, the different coping strategies of Herman Roth and Walter Hermann makes Philip's father appear even stronger than previously thought. In the end, despite Philip making a claim about his patrimony earlier in the novel, it is possible that Philip’s true patrimony is a lesson learned from his father…the last line of the memoir: “You must not forget anything” (238). Herman may have given away his tefillin and not been an observant Jew, but his insistence on remembering the past allows him to truly connect to his Jewish heritage. Although Philip Roth was an established author before writing Patrimony, it must have taken considerable courage and willpower to recount Herman’s life, to discuss his own quintuple bypass surgery, and to decide to finally enforce Herman’s living orders and “let him go” in the emergency room. But, by allowing Herman to die (without further suffering) and by writing Patrimony, Philip was continuing Herman’s mission of not forgetting anything. What do you all think was Philip’s true patrimony after finishing the book? What do you think of the importance of the last line in the memoir?

Strength

I'm almost done reading Patrimony, but I thought before I finished I would comment on the theme of strength (physical and emotional), as it is a theme that has arisen repeatedly throughout the book. Roth continuously refers to his father as an extremely stubborn, strong, and rather blunt individual. It seems he admires his father's strength and willpower, though at times, he does understand it comes off as cruel to others. One of the hardest things Roth has to come to terms with is the fact that his father may have finally met his match in the form of the tumor. Roth sees an equal strength in both, as he describes the tumor with a similar description of his father, stating, "I was thinking of the fingernail that had been aggrandizing the hollows of his skull for a decade, the material as obdurate and gristly as he was, that had cracked open the bone behind his nose and, with a stubborn, unrelenting force just like his, had pushed tusklike through into the cavities of his face" (164). It is hard for Roth to watch his once strong father battle with the tumor, as he knows this may not be a fight his father will win.

Patrimony

Another moment that I felt was significant was when Roth discusses the meaning of patrimony. According to the Apple dictionary, patrimony is "property inherited from one's father or male ancestor." Interestingly, Roth explicitly notes that patrimony is not the property he inherited. Roth comes to this revelation as he finishes cleaning up his father's mess after he "beshat" himself. Roth explains "And why this was right and as it should be couldn't have been plainer to me, now that the job was done. So that was my patrimony. And not because cleaning it up was symbolic of something else but because it wasn't, because it was nothing less or more than the lived reality that it was. There was my patrimony: not the money, not the tefillin, not the shaving mug, but the shit" (176). Roth's definition clearly differs from that of the dictionary. To Roth, patrimony seems to be actions and feelings, not inherited property.