The Plot Against America By Philip Roth: Literary Analysis
Philip Roth is a an American author known for writing humorous works about the Jewish traditions and lifestyle. He believed that life and future generations were influenced by political events. In the novel The Plot Against America, Philip Roth presents the idea that World War II and the Holocaust had negative events not only on the current generation, but the future generation. Roth confers the theme that World War II produces the characteristics of fear and confusion in the future generations. Philip Roth uses himself, at age nine, as the main character who faces the difficulties of the Holocaust and the ideas of anti-semitism. These political events caused Philip’s fearful and frightened adulthood because he lived in the Roth household during
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Since Philip Roth lived in the Roth household when he was young, the influence of his family created a fearful man. When one thinks about their childhood and the household they lived in, warm thoughts of good memories and a life full of happiness comes to mind. However, for Philip, everything was the opposite. World War II had created a lot of tension in households, especially the Roth household because they were Jewish. His parents and siblings started to worry and stress about how they were going to support themselves. As time went on, his parents started to fight more and more, but Philip never got used to the arguing he could hear from upstairs. During a particularly large fight, Philip learns that his father, Herman Roth, had been laid off from work because he was a Jew. The fight lasted for hours, and afterwards, Philip states that it is “so heartbreaking, violence, when it’s in a house - like seeing the clothes in a tree after an explosion...you may be prepared to see death but not the clothes in the tree” (Roth, 296). Philip was trying to make the point that he knew the Holocaust was making his parents worry about what will happen to their family, and he knew devastation would come and the family would have to be split apart. However, Philip was not prepared to have to witness the tearing
Since Philip Roth lived in the Roth household when he was young, the influence of his family created a fearful man. When one thinks about their childhood and the household they lived in, warm thoughts of good memories and a life full of happiness comes to mind. However, for Philip, everything was the opposite. World War II had created a lot of tension in households, especially the Roth household because they were Jewish. His parents and siblings started to worry and stress about how they were going to support themselves. As time went on, his parents started to fight more and more, but Philip never got used to the arguing he could hear from upstairs. During a particularly large fight, Philip learns that his father, Herman Roth, had been laid off from work because he was a Jew. The fight lasted for hours, and afterwards, Philip states that it is “so heartbreaking, violence, when it’s in a house - like seeing the clothes in a tree after an explosion...you may be prepared to see death but not the clothes in the tree” (Roth, 296). Philip was trying to make the point that he knew the Holocaust was making his parents worry about what will happen to their family, and he knew devastation would come and the family would have to be split apart. However, Philip was not prepared to have to witness the tearing