The Plot Against America

Fear is defined as a feeling of agitation and anxiety caused by the presence or imminence of danger. This emotion is expressed immensely throughout the novel, The Plot Against America. By reading the first paragraph, the reader can't imagine what horrifying events could lead one to have such a fear. "Fear presides over these memories, a perpetual fear. Of course no childhood is without its terrors, yet I wonder if I would have been a less frightened boy if Lindbergh hadn't been president or if I hadn't been the offspring of Jews." (Roth 1) Philip Roth, the son of Herman and Bess Roth, had such a permanent fear of Charles Lindbergh,(the supposed next president of the United States in the 1940 election against Franklin Roosevelt, controlling the world and ruining his and his family's life, as well as the rest of the Jews), that his thoughts while awake and dreaming are taken over by the fear of losing his family, his house, and everything he has ever known. The quote about fear that starts off the story is very significant because it foreshadows the danger ahead. After Lindbergh was put into office, the Jews quickly began to see the liking that he had for Hitler. "Lindbergh's not mentioning the Jews was to them a trick and no more, the initiation of a campaign of deceit intended both to shut us up and to catch us off guard." (Roth 17) Philip as well as his family knew that they were going to watch his every step even if it meant moving from Weequahic, the working-class section in Newark, New Jersey to Canada. People started to talk about it, which would make one suspect the worst from early on. "Some of our friends and neighbors had already begun talking about leaving the country and migrating to Canada should the Lindbergh administration openly turn against the Jews, and so a trip to Canada would also familiarize us with a potential haven from persecution." (Roth 44) Later on, Philip started dreaming about the possibility of being wiped out by Lindbergh. "In