In the first half of Portnoy’s, all I could essentially focus on was the blunt, disgusting vulgarity of this piece. I didn’t find it awkward or over the top, just different from anything I had ever read, and I consistently asked myself, “Why in the hell am I reading this for a college literature class?” Now that I have finished the book and we have basically gone over the deeper roots of the novel in class, I am really glad that I purchased the book for myself, because I know I am going to read it multiple times. In the beginning, I could not stand Alex’s character, or his family for that matter. The father made me disgusted with his weakness and utter submission to everything and everyone around him, the mother made me want to call my own mom to tell her how appreciative I am that she let me eat what I wanted to eat, and Alex made me want to take back all those times where I wished I could see into the mind of a teenage boy. Their household seemed so clueless from both the children’s side as well as the parent’s. As I realized that they were not so much clueless as they were lost and confused with almost every aspect of their lives, they became much more relatable, and likable, even.
Everybody wants that reassurance that they aren’t alone with how they feel in the world, and I believe that this novel really was a work of genius on Roth’s part by essentially giving every teenager and Jewish family, for that matter, the knowledge that most families go through issues, even if they aren’t as dramatic as the ones that the Portnoy’s experience. Even though the novel doesn’t give direct answers to these problems, it does give insight in the world of relationships and allows the reader to see from someone else’s perspective, while still staying in the mind of Alex’s character.
Now, I am not an emotional person, however, like Spencer mentioned in class, the last 20-25 pages of the book turn in a completely different direction. It actually made me feel for Alex and what he’s going through, which I’m sure is how a lot of us felt. I love that Roth didn’t give Alex the fairytale ending that most books publicize so ridiculously. With everything that he and his family go through during the entirety of the book, how could a reader really believe that everything turns out perfectly peachy in the end? The decision that Alex makes just by going to the therapist and revealing his whole story, even the part about having sex with the family dinner, shows real courage and determination to make progress and eventually create a substantial change.
I agree in many of the aspects that Jasmine talked in her post. At the beginning of the book I was shocked about why we were reading this book in college. The book does not resemble any book that I have ever read in college or high school. The family was totally dysfunctional, but as the book continues and Alex talks about everything going on in his life and how confusing was life for him it made sense how the author was describing everything in the book. Actually I believe that even though the examples of the story are pretty extreme they can still resemble many families around. Not every family have a perfect relationship with every member and I think that Roth made a really good job explaining all this different character and their interaction between each other. Also we could see all the feelings and thoughts that a teenage boy can go through. Even though many parts of the book were a little out of place and completely unexpected about his sexual activities, I think that this was his way to take away all the stress from his family and from his surrounding. Roth made sure that he made the story as real as possible and I believe that many people could relate to the story.
First I find importance in stating that I have not finished reading the novel, I have reached page 200 and this is what my blog will be discussing. With that said, we finally get some action (no pun intended) throughout the monologue. The first section we were assigned to read was definitely more dragging and had the traditional feel of Jewish oral storytelling, since it was more a sharing of his childhood and the teachings of his parents and his views of such with his psychoanalyst therapist. Of course, he did incorporate a couple of scenes such as his masturbation with the piece of liver that his family later ate for dinner and the numerous bathroom masturbation scenes (which were indeed entertaining but got old pretty fast). All in all, it was more a sharing of his upbringing and the ideals that his parents inculcated in him (his own reasoning behind the person he now was). The action and scenes that we did see were mostly concerned with Alex and revolved solely around him. On the other hand, in this section of the reading, he develops these ideals through the sharing of specific instances in his adolescence and interactions with other characters. In other words, we see these ideals his parents have instilled in him through specific scenes outside of his home (he finally steps outside of mommy and daddy’s house and into the real world). Also, through actions displayed by him in conjunction with other characters not just word of mouth! I truly enjoy Roth’s utilization of vivid imagery especially in reference to his subject matter. For instance, the scene of him and his “Monkey” partaking in a threesome while off in Europe is definitely fun and shockingly realistic. It not only allows the reader to live the instance with the narrator but it also allows for a more intimate connection with the characters aside from only Alex Portnoy. As readers we are able to get to know “The Monkey” and her personality more in-depth through the portrayal of this specific sex scene and the dialogue incorporated throughout. Lastly, Roth has a way of gluing the scenes in my head long after I have placed the novel down. This is exactly the case with the scene of the experiment with the Trojan condoms if you will. “To be sure that these Trojans really hold up under pressure, I have been down in my cellar all week filling them with quart after quart of water--- expensive as it is, I have been using them to jerk off into, to see if they will stand up under simulated fucking conditions.” One word, hilarious! I’m sure momma would be proud of our poor little Alex who for his own sanity must partake in such activities in order to feel reassured enough to use condoms for protection. Indeed, I cannot wait to finish the novel to see where our dear Alex Portnoy ends,(an insane asylum?)
I agree with you that the first half of Portnoy’s Complaint focused mainly on his upbringing and basically gives the reader the reasons for Portnoy’s later problems in the novel. I also found the extensive obscenity (really, there’s no other word for it – artistic or not it’s still obscene) a little overwhelming. But I think maybe that’s the point. If the reader is overwhelmed by the extent that Portnoy uses masturbation to set aside his individual identity or exercise some kind of control over his environment, how much more deeply affected is Portnoy, even by simply looking back on his own behaviors?
I think that we also have to keep in mind that he is re-telling the story to the psycho annalist. So if adult Portnoy keeps telling stories that seem to be getting the same point across to the reader, maybe it’s because he’s trying to get it all out of his system. Years of guilt and keeping secrets and hiding from his parents, lying about if he’s taking a shit or not, that is a heavy burden to bear. I think we have to give Portnoy some credit for actually owning up to his deviant deeds in such an explicit way.
The first half of Portnoy’s complaint, while obviously stated already, was quite shocking for a literature class. I got the novel late so after coming to class for the first day of discussion hearing that it was a lot about this Jewish boy masturbating, I was a little nervous to go home and start reading it. While making me feel slightly uncomfortable at first, I found it an easy read from the beginning. I liked the fact that he really captured what I think is pretty stereotypical of the Jewish culture- the overbearing mother and the sort of nerdy breadwinning father. I found myself smirking at the little details he would go into, like when his mom cried over him going out for hamburgers and not eating her home cooked meals, and wanting to see what his “poopie” looked like. What I didn’t get at a first glance, however, was how it tied into the aspect of the first generation American-Jews were trying to hard not to be Americanized. When Spencer brought that up in class I found it a very good point, and that the whole disgustingly awkward details of his masturbation missions were really Alex just trying to have some control in his life. I think once Alex finally got to go off to Europe with the Monkey without telling his family where he was going and where he could be reached, was his first real chance at being on his own. Was Alex really being suffocated by his parents? Or were they just being good parents to him, and he was the one with the issues. I’m pretty sure why all the while he was making all these criticisms on his parents he forgets to realize that they are immigrants, they are adjusting to a new “American life” but most importantly, they’re trying to raise a family, which isn’t all that easy. I also think Alex struggles mainly with finding a balance, and half the reason he’s gone so crazy with trying to figure it all out at the therapist’s office is because he’s obsessed with being in control. How he was raised just simply doesn’t allow for him to be an extreme “bad guy” yet he can’t stand being a “good boy” all of the time. I think what Alex really wants the whole time is to be somewhere in the middle, and happily in control, but he just can’t seem to find that medium.
I completely agree with you, Kyndall! I didn't get this book until this past weekend and not having the book the first two classes and hearing the discussions that were going on about this Jewish boy having trouble with his family and masturbating, I was a bit nervous to read it and catch up. After reading through it, I realized it was not as awkward reading it as I thought it would be from the class interaction. The book flows so you realize what is happening without taking it so seriously were you are uncomfortable. The author captures Alex as a typical young jewish boy who is rebelling against his parents, trying to branch out and find himself in the world. I get annoyed at the mother as much as Alex does just because you learn to connect and feel for Alex so much. I think when Alex leaves for Europe without his parents wishes, it really tests him on whether he is as "bad" as he thinks/seems/wants to be? He absolutely struggles with a balance. He doesn't know what kind of kid he wants to be without his parents bugging him all the time. He wants to be a good kid but yet I think his parents drive him so crazy that he chooses to be bad so they can give up and leave him alone.
For my blog this week I really wanted to elaborate on some of the stuff we discussed in class rather on the book itself. I know that the blog is usually supposed to be about the reading but I figured that since the reading was so much and so broad, I would focus on some smaller subjects. I really wanted to express my thoughts and opinions about what we talked about in class on Monday regarding the good boy/bad boy theme and how he failed as both of those. I also want to brush on the fact that I think an important theme of the novel is social pressure. I think that throughout this novel, it is really apparent that he is struggling to be this dominant American but he doesn’t know what that really means. He doesn’t know who he is and who he wants to be and it causes him to not know how to truly act or behave. I think his actions come from frustrations he has in his life and all the pressures put on him contributes as well. He has this “fantasy” of what the ideal man is, and I think that everything he goes through confuses him as to why it is in that “fantasy”. This is a major theme of the novel, in my opinion, because it displays assimilation of the Jewish race in a subtle way. In a sense, by having this idea of what it really is to be a dominant American man, it shows the goal of what a Jewish man wants to be in America. One of the themes that really stood out to me in lecture on Monday was the good/bad boy theme. I think what really makes the novel what it is, is the fact that Alex fails in both the good boy and bad boy roles he “plays”. His parents want him to be this good, traditional Jewish boy who marries a Jewish girl, and is basically the ideal son. He fails them in this regard because he has a lot of sex, tells his Father he is an atheist, he barely visits (he basically does the opposite). He fails as the good boy to his parents because he wants to be this bad boy who has sex all the time and drinks and smokes and just does whatever he wants. But he fails at this because he has a conscience because he is torn at wanting to be the good boy to his parents while being this bad boy to himself. I kind of can relate to this (in a totally different literal way) because I’ve always felt that my goal in life was to be this person that did what I wanted to do but I never could because I always felt bad about it. I also have always felt that I let my parents down so I get why these feelings could mold him into the person he is. Lastly, I wanted to brush on the idea that I think a theme of this novel is the role of pressure. Alex is constantly feeling pressure from his parents to be this ideal Jewish son and they’ve put pressure on him his entire life, making him the guy he was. Also he has this pressure from on himself to be this savior to women and to his family. I think that all the pressure on Alex throughout his life is what made him the messed up guy that he is and led to all the decisions he’s made in his life.
I agree with a lot of what you posted, but I think something that, not really shocked me, but at least got me thinking, was that in the end of the novel, it seems that Alex truly desires to be the Jewish man he was in a sense "destined" to be. After everything is said and done, he ends up in Israel surrounded on every side by Jews, and realizes that he is a "lover of no one and nothing! Unloved and unloving!" (251). I think this is interesting because the entire novel Alex has been literally sprinting away from his childhood, coming up with every reason possible to hate his mother, father, religion, entire upbringing.....and for what? Towards the end it seems as though he finally understands that he is really the one who fucked up his life, not his family or Judaism as a whole. He sees all these Jews living happy, productive lives and he fully desires to be one of them, to join them. Because of the way he has lived his life, constantly chasing sex and success, striving to impress the people around him with money and intellectual conversation, Alex does not fit in with this ideal Jewish lifestyle. For this reason he craves to, I guess you could say rape Naomi. "This is what it's like in Diaspora, you saintly kiddies, this is what it's like in exile! Temptation and disgrace! Corruption and self-mockery! Self-deprecation - and self-defecation too!... Yes, Naomi, I am soiled, oh, I am impure - and also pretty fucking tired, my dear, of never being quite good enough for The Chosen People" (266). This quote perfectly explains Alex's inner turmoil of trying, but failing to conform to Jewish standards, although if he is being honest with himself...did he really try?
I totally agree with your view on Alex's conflict with the good boy/bad boy roles he wants to fullfil and the constant pressure that puts him under. I believe this story truly demonstrates the theory of Nurture vs. Nature and which part of childs life plays a greater role in shaping their personality and character in adulthood. Nature or the American society he lives in portrays a man as independent, strong, and sex driven, something Alex fails to attain but desperately wants to be seen as. Then on the other side you have his parents(Nurture) who want to shape him into an honest and successful Jewish boy, which Alex does not want. So he is caught in between this two ideals of masculinity that really mess with his head and puts him in constant conflict with those around him.
At the beginning of my reading of Portnoy’s Complaint, I found myself entertained, yet a bit uncomfortable by the vulgarity and bluntness of Roth’s writing. Alex’s obsession with sex and masturbating was at first funny, and then became sort of annoying to me because the novel just seemed to me just a raunchy Jewish comedy about a confused man, and I was unsure as to why we were even reading it in this class. Through further reading and listening in on class discussion, however, I can finally appreciate the artistry in Roth’s work and I’m amazed at how he utilizes the theme of sex to represent something so much bigger than just plain sex. I feel that everything in this story always relates back to the relationship between Alex and his Judaism someway or another. On one level, this theme of sexuality represents Alex’s rebellion from the strict laws of his Jewish culture. He wants so badly to break away from the Jewish traditions that he has been brought up with because he almost feels constricted and limited by his religion in America. Thus, by being extremely sexually promiscuous, he is able to rebel against his traditional cultural values in his own little way. That said, this novel is very different from any other piece that we’ve read thus far in the class because of the protagonist’s view on Judaism. Roth shines a very negative light on the religion, as we see Alex so adverse to his Judaism. The entire story, all we see is him trying to break through the “boundaries” that being Jewish sets on him in America. There are very scarce examples in the novel of Alex actually embracing his Jewish culture. Going back to the relationship between sexuality and religion, Alex’s sexuality on a second level represents freedom and power. In having sex with non-Jewish, American women, Alex, for once in his life, feels as though he has power over his American peers. Since being Jewish has a negative, weak connotation in Alex’s mind, these many acts of sexual perverseness throughout the story help him to stay from Jewish tradition and feel a sense of authority by essentially “conquering” these women. In the novel, Alex says “What I’m saying, Doctor, is that I don’t seem to stick my dick up these girls, as much as I stick it up their backgrounds” (Roth 235). This sums up, in a nut shell, one of the reasons why Alex, in my opinion, is so obsessed with sex.
I agree with everything that Chynna said. I think the points that Roth tries to make regarding the Jewish religion are conveyed successfully. This is because it's done through sexual metaphors which are so strong and in your face that the reader cannot ignore them. Well other stories have had symbolism and representation that could be overlooked, this possibly offense theme used by the author could not be. I also agree in terms of how this novel is different than most of the other material that we have read. While there has been sexual themes present before, they have not been this strong and repetitive. Another thing that separates this novel from our other reads is it's reflection of the jewish religion. While other novels projected the jewish culture with repression or an outcast identity, Roth's novel seemed to display a negative attitude towards it. The main character Alex, and his intense sexual nature are a rebellion to the what he sees as the restrictions of the Jewish religion. I thought it was very interesting that Alex seemed to feel weak simply because he's Jewish. His father only reinforces this. To combat that he seeks to regain a sense of power and control by sleeping with American women. This thought process by Alex is very interesting because of the comparison of religious Identity to national Identity. I guess this occurs because as we've seen before, the Jewish immigrants wanted to assimilation into the American culture. Doing this would give one more power, and I think Alex saw having sex with these American women as a way to assimilate. All of the other main character's so far have never questioned their faith, but it was very interesting to see this new point of view from Alex. Something that I found enhanced the work as a whole was the way that Roth conveyed Alex's stream of conciseness. The sometimes scattered and random thoughts of Alex made it easier for me to get into his mind and understand the novel better as a whole.
Overall I think this novel took some giant risk, especially for the time period that it was written in. And why this novel is so highly regarded is confusing for the first half of the book which just seems a bit to sexual. But by the end Roth pulls it all together to make some strong point's about the possible problems and restrictions encountered by growing up Jewish in America.
I agree with Chynna in the sense that throughout the book Alex’s biggest struggle seems to be with Judaism. When I first started reading the book, I too didn’t know how to react act to such strong themes of sex. Even in this day and age, where talking about sex is a lot more common, the book still shocked me. However when we talked in class about the deeper meaning behind all his actions, I grew to understand and enjoy the book more. I noticed that I changed the way I read the book. In the beginning when I read it I found the paragraphs about sex and masturbation to be funny yet disturbing. However, by the end of the book when Alex talked about sex, it immediately brought up questions in my mind such as, how it relates back to his Jewish culture. We talked about in class the idea that no one really knows Roth’s motives behind this book. Because of all the different themes in this novel, it is hard to tell if Roth is making fun of certain things or not. However the idea that Roth always keeps the reader guessing about the moral behind this novel is what intrigues me most.
I completely agree with Chynna's post, the novel is fundamentally based upon a boy's yearning to go against the grain and ignore the practices of his religion in order to find fulfillment in life. The novel has developed and shifted away from its repeated focus on sexuality and we are able to delve deeper into the mind of Alex towards the end of the novel. He is not as troubled as I had first assumed due to his constant masturbation. He uses sex as an escape from the grip of his religion. That quote Chynna posted clearly defines the mindset of Alex. He is not infatuated with sex but religion, in my opinion. Even though he is repeatedly performing sexual acts and thinking vulgar thoughts I believe he uses it to abstain from the Judaism forced upon him. I realize that Roth’s true motives behind the work are still a mystery, but it feels like he uses the sexuality to mask the true theme of non- conforming to religion. He uses humor to entertain while portraying a life of a young boy who wants to experience the world and all of its wonders. In all, after completing the novel, I have gained a much deeper respect for the book. It has been a whirlwind of emotions from the beginning of the book, where he was masturbating constantly, even with cold meats, but looking back, it seems to all tie back to Alex’s reluctance to conform to the practices of Judaism.
At the beginning of this semester, when I saw that we would be reading Portnoy’s Complaint, I already had an idea of what I’d be in for seeing as how I’d previously read the book last semester for another class. However, after talking to Spencer about it, I was under the impression that I’d being seeing this book in a whole different light after reading it a second time. And so far, that notion has been correct. Although I was already aware of the significance of Alex’s apparent obsession with sex, I wasn’t quite as tuned into the underlying themes of Judaism and masculinity in the novel. I was already aware of Alex’s obsession with sex being somewhat of an outlet of freedom for him. Masturbation appears to be the only thing Alex can control, thus being a symbol of independence from the over-bearing nature of his mother. I suppose that, while reading it for the first time last semester, I was too distracted by the wonderful vulgarity and hilarity of Portnoy’s Complaint to really read in to the deeper meaning of it all. However, after reading it through a second time and sitting through a second round of discussions on the novel, I’ve gotten a completely different view of some of the themes and struggles addressed in this book.
For instance, the first theme I’ve really been able to hone in on is this theme of role-model masculinity and Alex’s struggle to be someone who is different from his father. I found our talk in class on Monday about Alex’s fascination with balancing a Jewish and American identity to be really interesting. Although I was aware of Alex’s resentment towards his un-manly father after reading it the first time through, I see now that it has a lot more to do with than just sex. Alex strives to be a real man; a man’s man, and he doesn’t get a positive example of that from his father. Therefore, the only outlet he can possibly think of to prove his masculinity is through having unfulfilling sex with all of these women. Although they (the women) fulfill his primal, sexual needs, he still feels somewhat guilty about the nonchalance of it all. Because of the pansy-like nature of his father, Alex believes that the only way to be masculine is to be everything that is the opposite of his father, such as having sex with women and not caring about it. However, as we discussed in class, his conscience keeps getting in the way. This is where Alex’s sheltered up-bringing really shines through, because we all know that there are plenty of other ways to be masculine. However, Alex doesn’t seem to be able to grasp that concept. He seems so desensitized to having mindless sex with women that he doesn’t realize that there are other ways to go about achieving true masculinity.
I agree with Stephanie in that the roll of masculinity is very interessting. I like that Alex faces this problem of masculinity, I think because his father is so clearly no the "pants-wearer" of the relationship, because it is something everyone can relate too. Although for girls its finding your feminine niche, but I watched as my 2 brothers struggled for it, they chose to pick on me instead, but Alex is not satisfied with just calling his sister fat. He tries to find his masculinity by degrading women, which is definitely a cowardly approach to the situation because being a man isn't about putting others down but doing what's right for your self and your family. Alex is incredibly self involved from the constant scrutiny from his moms relentless need to be a helicopter mom. Since she makes her husband feel immasculated Alex tries to fight this his whole life by doing things to rebel against her. Which again is another way to deter himself from finding his masculinity. Alex tries to be the opposite of his father just like Stephanie said, could not be more true. Alex has some sort of idea that if someone is not masculine than rather. Hange a few things, Alex tries to be the opposite. However, the opposite slightly less masculine seems to be slightly less masculine in other ways.
Leslie Oxford Unlike Stephanie, I have never read Portnoy's Complaint before this class. Therefore, I can understand what Stephanie says about being "distracted by the wonderful vulgarity and hilarity of Portnoy’s Complaint to really read in to the deeper meaning of it all." However, I am thankful that I have the opportunity to jump into a deeper analysis of the material than the straight forward idea of Alex masturbating for freedom. Perhaps the more powerful underlying message in Portnoy's Complaint is the struggle between the powerful women and emasculated men. Alex has dealt with his controlling mother his entire life. His mother is the quintessential Jewish mother and consequently has been overbearing, as Stephanie pointed out. Most of Alex's behavior towards women is a direct result of the ineffectual feelings caused by his mother. This power-play is demonstrated especially via the names Alex calls the women in his life. He calls them "Monkey", "Pumpkin", and "Pilgrim"; he does not dignify these women with names. It is his way of fighting back through the emasculation of himself and his father. In Alex's head, this is a means of evening the score and a manner in which Alex Portnoy can become a strong American man.
Ashley Hicks Like Alex, I also want to focus more on the class discussion rather than the novel itself because I think the theme of masculinity in the novel is very interesting. When it was brought up in class I was very quick to jump on the bandwagon. Coming from a family of four brothers I personally see what the ideal American masculine male should be, and Alex is very far from it. The ideal dominant American boy is strong, confident, independent and free but Alex cannot met this. He has great internal struggle in battling to become this when he is nothing like it. Masculinity in Jewish terms would circle more around ones intellectual level, something Alex is very strong in. He struggles to find his own Jewish male identity against the popular Anglo Christian standard. You see his lack of masculinity in his submission to his mother and especially in his desire to cry. You really see in this section of the reading how overbearing his mother and father can be. The thought that his mother wants to see his “poopie” really just blows my mind (and also made my kid side laugh a little). Also the fact that she was that upset over a teenage boy going to get a hamburger instead of eating a home-cooked meal is crazy. I’ve meet some pretty overprotecting parents but not to this extreme. This is also a great cause of Alex’s internal struggles. He can never actually please anyone, including himself. His parents want the perfect son, to be a good Jew, marry a Jewish girl, to visit and so on. Since he cannot do this I think he is always at a constant internal uneasiness. I think this is also why he leaves monkey. His first chance of being on his own was leaving with monkey to Europe without telling his parents. This was the first time in his life he did something on his own and that makes him, in my opinion, “the typical dominant American male”. I think they have such a strong desire to each other because they share the same crazy sex desires and also the lack of family love that they are always striving for. But then why does he leave her? Alex is the type of person who always needs to be in charge. He is an extremely intelligent person, which is where he gets all his power from. He needs to find the balance between the “good” boy and the “bad” boy.
I agree that the class discussion on masculinity is very interesting. I feel bad for Alex because he cannot reach this ideal man, which in turn keeps him from happiness. He is having this conflicting sense and idea of what is a man. There is the Jewish American American definition and the Protestant American one. The Jewish one has more to do with being an intelect while the other is this powerful and independent version. Alexends up somewhere in the middle of the spectrum, causing him a lot of confusion. I also agree that the degree of how much the mother wants control of Alex is ridiculous. I thought my parents were controling, but this is just a whole other level. I also agree that Alex is the type of person who wants to be in control, but I am not sure if he ever is. He appears to either be following or delibritly disobeying his parents. This then raises the question of is anything Alex does really of his choice or his parents (mother)? Because it seems to me that if Alex does something, like go eat a hamburger to spite his parents, then his actions are still being influenced by his parents.
Kayleigh Koskan Portnoy’s Complaint has to be one of the weirdest yet most descriptive stories I have ever read. I was really disgusting at the beginning. Alex’s constant masturbating and in weird ways really grossed me out. It was a little difficult for me to get through all of that. But as the story went on it got easier and more interesting I suppose is the right word. What really stood out to me out of this entire book was the part where Alex was telling his father that he is not Jewish, nor does he believe in a higher power at all. I think this was a huge part of the book because it really let you in to a deeper meaning of why he is the way he is and why he resents his family so much. They are always pressuring the significance and importance of their being a God and Alex has this attitude towards the belief that is different than his families. I also think that Alex feels guilt for being in America at this time, rather than in Europe where the Jewish people are being punished. I think this guilt is forcing him to think that if he tells himself and others that he is not Jewish than he won’t feel so bad about what is going on with his group of people overseas. Other than that aspect of this story, I really did not feel relatable to it at all. I think that it was just about a boy who did not really know who he was. He was always told who he had to be, what he could and could not do, Alex never got to make his own choices growing up and in turn that is why he feels so alone. The thing about Portnoy’s Complaint that made it almost impossible for me to sit down and read for long time periods, that made me not like this book very much, was the fact that his family was so screwed up it was to a point where I was annoyed. They cry over everything, it is way too emotional for my liking. The father is an ignorant asshole which is ironic because he’s constipated all the time. His sister conforms to whatever his father says. Alex’s mother is completely insane. She freaks out over the smallest things, like him eating French fries, and complains to his father about it all. This poor kid is the product of two psychotic human beings which is why he has problems himself. Although there also is another take on it where I think that maybe his parents aren’t psycho, they’re just trying to establish a European Jewish take on life in an American Jewish town. Alex may be torn between growing up in America, trying to live the American way, while his parents’ minds are still stuck in Europe trying to raise their kids that way.
As was stated by everyone before me, the first half of Portnoy was us learning about his younger, more vulgar self who enjoyed normal childlike things such as masturbation and his mother. Please excuse my sarcasm. About halfway through the novel though, things change from funny and vulgar to informative and enlightening. While I spent the first half of the novel with my eyes wide open, trying to wrap my head around some of the things that were being said and taking place, the second half of the novel I really found myself deeply enriched in the language and couldn’t keep myself from reading.
I really like novels where the readers get to watch the main character grow before our eyes because it helps us really get into the mind of the characters because we learn their likes and dislikes along the way. With Alex, we get to watch him grow up from a sex crazed teenager to a grown man who really has no idea what his life has become and even what he wants out of life. He says he wants a family and a wife, yet he finds himself leaving every woman he’s with for silly reasons. It’s like he finds every flaw possible with the girls just so he can talk himself out of being with them and at the same time, complaining that he doesn’t have a wife and kids yet.
I really like the fast paced style of this navel because it keeps me hooked, and I am not one who gets hooked onto books very easily. The fast paced style makes the book seem about half as long as it actually is and in turn makes reading it a lot easier. In the beginning all I could really focus on was the language because I had never read such a vulgar book, but as I got used to it I was really able to look into the deeper meaning of the text. All in all I thought this was a great novel and I am glad that we read it.
Josh, I completely agree with what you are saying here. Portnoy’s Complaint is a novel that has awesome underlying meaning but it may be hard to notice that at first due to the vulgarity and language style of the piece. And the language really did have me in a trance for a while as well and I struggled to notice much else about the piece until almost halfway through. And you are also right about how the novel is an easier, faster paced read than it looks to be when you first start off. Alex’s struggle to find what he wants out of life is the main plot line to this story and it is shown by his masturbation-crazed teenage years and in his adult years in a different way. The way in which Alex struggles in his adult years is when he is leaving women for stupid reasons yet the whole time saying he wants to make a family and settle down. I also enjoyed this novel and thought of it as a very interesting story, all said and done I feel as though many people could relate to many different things within the piece and that is why it is such good read.
I as well would like to mention that I have yet to finish the book. I am also just over 200 pages, so my blog will be about information up till that point. The majority of discussion in class was about the masculinity portrayed in the book, and surely there are many examples of it. Such as the father's inability to perform normal bodily functions, Alex's obsession with being the best intellectually, sexually and physically, etc. But we haven't gotten into depth about the feministic stand point this book brings forth. Though much more subtle than the masculinity, the femininity is present from the very beginning. It becomes clearer farther into the book that Alex Portnoy is a male chauvinist, however the early signs begin during early childhood when he references his sister, Hannah. Alex gives an anecdote about accidentally eating Hannah's pudding at one point. To justify himself, he explains that a doctor didn't want her eating it anyway and proceeds to call her "fat", "sluggish", and born "not something people wanted to take special looks at". He also shows how lowly he thinks of her by stating that he has "never taken her seriously as a genuine object of anybody's love". But at least when he comes into his adolescence, Alex gives her enough respect to see her as the only sane one in his family. Hannah is not the only woman Alex degrades, however. When Alex is an adult, he meets this woman whose name is never given. He simply refers to her as The Monkey. Not only is Alex not giving her enough decency to use her real name, he's nicknamed her after an animal. On multiple occasions Alex has made clear his intellectual superiority over The Monkey. He even makes a conscious recognition of this when he reads poems to her. He feels he is rubbing it in her face that she is not on his intellectual level, and that is exactly what he is doing. He repeatedly tries to convince himself to love her simply because she is beautiful and a good lover and that he should overlook her "imperfections", as in her stupidity and craziness. Even the wanting of a masculine father shows Alex's views about women. He doesn't think his mother should be the one to wear the pants in the family, but she is. The view about women may be why Alex is the way he is: unable to love a woman and having no desire to be married.
Hailey, I agree with many of the points you made. First of all, the ideal of masculinity plays a key role in this novel. We find the extremes Alex takes as a sort of "antihero." His control of his own penis, the only thing he believes he has any control over, is his tool - no pun intended - to remind himself that he has power over his own life. His obsession with making himself "perfect" is also another focus I picked up on. He's always trying to make himself better, which is great in theory, but in practice he takes it to extremes. And Hailey touched on a point I didn't pick up on. His misogynistic tendencies are quite profound. The treatment of his sister and the treatment of "The Monkey" portray his less perfect side. To him, he probably sees this as a masculine thing, but to the reader, this comes across as chauvinistic. Hailey's reasoning for his desire to be unmarried and his inability to love a woman sounds spot on. If viewed in that light, it totally makes sense.
The ending page of Portnoy's Complaint struck me more than the rest of the book - and that's saying something considering how consistently arresting the rest of the novel was in my opinion. Alex's anti-Darwinistic retrogradation to an animalistic state displays, what I think to be, his ultimate surrender to imperfection - the thing he's been fighting most his whole life - and the role Social Darwinism plays in the book.
To begin with, I find it very interesting that his regression is depicted to be animalistic - the most fittingly assumed societal regression for an atheistic, Americanized man such as himself, as opposed to his Jewish, Creationist family. My interest in this depiction especially peaks when considering the anthropological studies that were conducted in the 1960s by Social Darwinist's on the influence that DNA has upon human qualitative behavior - such as mate selection or self-sacrifice to benefit the greater good.
Another striking quality about his regression to an animal is that one of the main recurring female characters in the story is named Monkey - an animal that drips with Darwinistic iconicity. Monkey is clearly less educated than he, and therefore, one could conclude that by natural selection she is also a lesser human being. How fitting then, that Alex, in his final descent, becomes animalistic like Monkey which he's "superior" to in the rest of the book.
Finally, the fact he becomes an animal, regardless of whether or not Darwinism is taken into account (though I still think it plays a part in Roth's choice of transformation), shows his ultimate surrender to the animalistic mindset he's been plagued with all his life - selfishly motivated ambition, unemotional and rashly urgent sexual desires, and even violence in certain cases. All three of those are very primitive in nature in contrast to Alex's socially advanced intelligence.
Roth's literary genius is played out in the last page by not only concluding the story in a holistic way - the protagonists demise found in the very thing he's fought all along - but it also closes in a way that shows us (in my opinion) a very strong commentary made by Roth on society around him. The current social developments in regards to evolution, DNA, and its affects on how one chooses a mate and what one will sacrifice to better others manifest through various narrative elements such as the issues faced by Alex throughout his life and his final descent to an animal.
One of the things I also liked about Portnoy's Complaint was the fact that you could almost watch Alex develop, but throughout the second half of the novel he seems to be spiraling into confusion and his life is in disarray. Most novels have the narrator in a better place at the conclusion than they were when the book started, but Alex does not seem to end that way. Not only does his life become more insane and crazy, his speech becomes more erratic and confusing, allowing readers to understand exactly how far he's falling. The first half of the book shows readers a good foundation as to why he does this but some of the things he does seem to be more in the side of nature than nurture. Alex seems to lose his sense of self the further I read into the novel. He says that he wants a wife and kids, but his actions are completely contrary to this, especially when he nearly rapes Naomi, the woman he asks to be the mother of his children. He really doesn't seem to know what he wants which stems from not knowing himself emotionally. It's not that Alex is immature, it's that he's filled with self-doubt after a lifetime of being told exactly what to do, how to do it, and when to do it. He's fighting against his mother's voice in his head while at the same time trying to find his own way.
Devin Harkins In Portnoy’s Complaint I find it interesting that Alex is constantly being pulled back and forth between being the “good boy” that his parents want him to be and the “bad boy” that he believe society wants from him. The overbearing mother wants Alex to be a good boy by being a loyal Jewish man who marries a Jewish girl and raises a family. She wants the family to grow and have grandchildren who often visit. To sum it up Alex’s mother wants him to be obedient. She wants him to be her innocent, little helper who never questions her and always follows her orders. She acts like a General and Alex is her mindless solider who carries out her orders. Alex’s father wants him to be obedient but in a much less intense ideal. Jack wants Alex to “save” the family and bring them honor by raising them up the social ladder. Although the father isn’t as upfront with his domineering dreams for Alex; he still manages to put a large amount of pressure on the child. Even after Alex grows up and moves away from home he still cannot totally escape his parents. Alex believes that in order to fit in and be respected in American society he needs to be the “bad boy.” He wants to have total freedom in all aspects of his life including sex. Alex thinks that a true man in America should be able to have sex with whoever and whenever without any emotional attachments or guilt. He also believes that a real man is strong, stoic, and brave (unlike his father). Although Alex wants to see himself in this bad boy lifestyle he finds it very difficult. Alex cannot lie, smoke, drink, or sleep around without feeling extremely guilty. When Alex was a child he couldn’t even run away from home without feeling guilty and returning home with his head down in shame. The only thing Alex thinks he has succeeded at is being Intelligent. Alex constantly plays off of his intelligence because he is so insecure about all other aspects of his life. A big reason Alex enjoys Monkey’s company so much is that he can easily out-smart her and shows off his intelligence. No matter how hard he tries Alex cannot please anyone including his parents, women, and even himself. He has a hard time coping with this so he uses his wit and cleverness to hide his insecurities.
Vanessa Previl After reading this novel, I agree that Alex is in conflict of being his parents’ good boy and society’s bad boy. One can say that Alex is in a battle between his id and his super ego which crushes his ego negatively. I see it like this, his super ego wants him to be in control and have freedom but his id is trying to please his parents and the American society – even his id was in battle and trying to balance all three can be very difficult and now I see why he turned to masturbating, it was his outlet. Not saying that his parents were bad parents because I know that they wanted to see the best for him and there is no guide on how to raise Alex properly to fit his temperament and way of thinking but the way the approached him was just overwhelming – so much pressure. So I do blame them, especially the mother, for his outcome. The father’s pressure of bring the family up the society ladder is normal, every parent want to see their child succeed. But the mother’s pressure to me is just a little unrealistic and she was to overbearing. If she had learned to let go and not control every little detail she could about Alex, I believe things would be different.
After finishing the book I am able to say that I really enjoyed it. At face value- I would assume one would find the story very vulgar with uneasy feelings of the sexual upheaval. I would admit that at first, I too had these feelings of uneasiness as I began reading the story. At first it became clear that the young boy, Alex, and narrator of the story is trying to find his identity by using escapism through ‘forbidden’ sexual endeavors. It is a very unique type of story that keeps the reader motivated to read on and try and figure out what exactly is Alex’s problem. We find that he is talking to his psychiatrist, and we immediately see that he has an identity crisis. As we read along, we see that Portnoy is obsessed with masturbation and has a very strange relationship with his parents. His mother, Sophie, seems to be a complete opposite of his father. Both parents with their conflicting ideals of a child’s upbringing have a detrimental impact on Alex’s development. Dr. Speilvogel tries and helps Alex figure out why he has become such a sexually perverted young man. It is evident, especially with his relationship with Monkey, that there is an extreme cognitive dissonance that is making up a huge part of his obsessive personality. This dissonance, which one can assume is due to his ill upbringing. I was especially interested in the development of Alex and the Freudian concept of the Id, Ego, and Superego. It was an interesting critique to substitute some characters in the story: Alex, his mother, and his father, in substitute for these Freudian terms. It seems that Alex is the ego- a conscious developed being with an identity crisis and an obsession with sex. His father would relate more to the Id, the most primordial state of being- repressed emotions and just worried about innate qualities. Lastly, his mother could exemplify the superego, the one most responsible of his moral development. However, there is definitely confliction between both his parents and their different views. With using the Freudian concepts and a critical view of the relationship with their parents; it is interesting to see that there is conflicting views between Alex’s ID and superego which he cannot shake. This problem, beginning in his early childhood, is a major cause for the development of his disgusting attitude. Though perverted at times, it is truly beautiful how deep the iceberg goes as we read more and more of this story.
I think you bring up some great points. This story has all the elements of the typical Jewish American Literation we have read thus far. Alex struggles with his identity, as you mention, and his mother seems to be the dominant throughout this entire story, much like "How I Found America". I would go so far as to say that his mother is at fault for the way he turned out. Alex is immersed in conflicting versions of himself and his mother only complicates things for him. It's interesting that you point out that these conflicting versions of him stem from the Freudian point of view.
What is different about the story is that it introduces us into the sexual revolution, which almost seems to backfire on Alex finding his identity. It would be interesting to me, if you analyzed his conflicting self with the idea of sex between him and other Americans. The Americans seem to have no guilt; while Alex's demise stems from the guilt he has from belittling women. For instance, was masturbation itself causing Alex's ID and superego to intensify, or was this just another factor reason that he struggled so much with his identity?
In the end I think Alex finds a better version of himself. I don't think he has found himself entirely but he realizes all his fantasies will not complete the whole inside him. For all the sexual freedom in the world couldn't give him the love he lacks in his intimate relationships as well as the relationship (or lack thereof) with his parents, who would rather he better them than them parent him with love and nurture.
I too agree with Ms. Diaz, I feel like the first portion of the novel was a set up, sort of explanation to his present life traumas. Although it seems to me that it is more of an excuse for his life traumas, more than an explanation. It is clear that he is being held back by the dilemmas he is faced with, in being in love with a non-Jewish girl, but not only that, an uneducated woman. These are things that due to his childhood upbringing and the conflicts he has with his parental relationships he is not able to defend. He asks himself is he “should” love The Monkey, therefore feeling entrapped in his own choices, as if now being a 30 year old man he is still being gripped by his mother. Reading this was sort of saddening in a sense because to see a successful man, with everything at his fingertips, he is still unable to make choices for himself. He is still unable to make choices that will make him happy for fear of his family’s judgments. Only in being in a reclusive state, far away from New York, could he be himself, and even then he could not be himself fully. It is almost as if he has no identity other than that of being a repressed momma’s boy, even with all his accomplishments and success.
In the first half of Portnoy’s, all I could essentially focus on was the blunt, disgusting vulgarity of this piece. I didn’t find it awkward or over the top, just different from anything I had ever read, and I consistently asked myself, “Why in the hell am I reading this for a college literature class?” Now that I have finished the book and we have basically gone over the deeper roots of the novel in class, I am really glad that I purchased the book for myself, because I know I am going to read it multiple times. In the beginning, I could not stand Alex’s character, or his family for that matter. The father made me disgusted with his weakness and utter submission to everything and everyone around him, the mother made me want to call my own mom to tell her how appreciative I am that she let me eat what I wanted to eat, and Alex made me want to take back all those times where I wished I could see into the mind of a teenage boy. Their household seemed so clueless from both the children’s side as well as the parent’s. As I realized that they were not so much clueless as they were lost and confused with almost every aspect of their lives, they became much more relatable, and likable, even.
ReplyDeleteEverybody wants that reassurance that they aren’t alone with how they feel in the world, and I believe that this novel really was a work of genius on Roth’s part by essentially giving every teenager and Jewish family, for that matter, the knowledge that most families go through issues, even if they aren’t as dramatic as the ones that the Portnoy’s experience. Even though the novel doesn’t give direct answers to these problems, it does give insight in the world of relationships and allows the reader to see from someone else’s perspective, while still staying in the mind of Alex’s character.
Now, I am not an emotional person, however, like Spencer mentioned in class, the last 20-25 pages of the book turn in a completely different direction. It actually made me feel for Alex and what he’s going through, which I’m sure is how a lot of us felt. I love that Roth didn’t give Alex the fairytale ending that most books publicize so ridiculously. With everything that he and his family go through during the entirety of the book, how could a reader really believe that everything turns out perfectly peachy in the end? The decision that Alex makes just by going to the therapist and revealing his whole story, even the part about having sex with the family dinner, shows real courage and determination to make progress and eventually create a substantial change.
Cristina Vallarino
DeleteI agree in many of the aspects that Jasmine talked in her post. At the beginning of the book I was shocked about why we were reading this book in college. The book does not resemble any book that I have ever read in college or high school. The family was totally dysfunctional, but as the book continues and Alex talks about everything going on in his life and how confusing was life for him it made sense how the author was describing everything in the book. Actually I believe that even though the examples of the story are pretty extreme they can still resemble many families around. Not every family have a perfect relationship with every member and I think that Roth made a really good job explaining all this different character and their interaction between each other. Also we could see all the feelings and thoughts that a teenage boy can go through. Even though many parts of the book were a little out of place and completely unexpected about his sexual activities, I think that this was his way to take away all the stress from his family and from his surrounding. Roth made sure that he made the story as real as possible and I believe that many people could relate to the story.
First I find importance in stating that I have not finished reading the novel, I have reached page 200 and this is what my blog will be discussing. With that said, we finally get some action (no pun intended) throughout the monologue. The first section we were assigned to read was definitely more dragging and had the traditional feel of Jewish oral storytelling, since it was more a sharing of his childhood and the teachings of his parents and his views of such with his psychoanalyst therapist. Of course, he did incorporate a couple of scenes such as his masturbation with the piece of liver that his family later ate for dinner and the numerous bathroom masturbation scenes (which were indeed entertaining but got old pretty fast). All in all, it was more a sharing of his upbringing and the ideals that his parents inculcated in him (his own reasoning behind the person he now was). The action and scenes that we did see were mostly concerned with Alex and revolved solely around him.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, in this section of the reading, he develops these ideals through the sharing of specific instances in his adolescence and interactions with other characters. In other words, we see these ideals his parents have instilled in him through specific scenes outside of his home (he finally steps outside of mommy and daddy’s house and into the real world). Also, through actions displayed by him in conjunction with other characters not just word of mouth! I truly enjoy Roth’s utilization of vivid imagery especially in reference to his subject matter. For instance, the scene of him and his “Monkey” partaking in a threesome while off in Europe is definitely fun and shockingly realistic. It not only allows the reader to live the instance with the narrator but it also allows for a more intimate connection with the characters aside from only Alex Portnoy. As readers we are able to get to know “The Monkey” and her personality more in-depth through the portrayal of this specific sex scene and the dialogue incorporated throughout.
Lastly, Roth has a way of gluing the scenes in my head long after I have placed the novel down. This is exactly the case with the scene of the experiment with the Trojan condoms if you will. “To be sure that these Trojans really hold up under pressure, I have been down in my cellar all week filling them with quart after quart of water--- expensive as it is, I have been using them to jerk off into, to see if they will stand up under simulated fucking conditions.” One word, hilarious! I’m sure momma would be proud of our poor little Alex who for his own sanity must partake in such activities in order to feel reassured enough to use condoms for protection. Indeed, I cannot wait to finish the novel to see where our dear Alex Portnoy ends,(an insane asylum?)
Isabel Willetts
DeleteI agree with you that the first half of Portnoy’s Complaint focused mainly on his upbringing and basically gives the reader the reasons for Portnoy’s later problems in the novel. I also found the extensive obscenity (really, there’s no other word for it – artistic or not it’s still obscene) a little overwhelming. But I think maybe that’s the point. If the reader is overwhelmed by the extent that Portnoy uses masturbation to set aside his individual identity or exercise some kind of control over his environment, how much more deeply affected is Portnoy, even by simply looking back on his own behaviors?
I think that we also have to keep in mind that he is re-telling the story to the psycho annalist. So if adult Portnoy keeps telling stories that seem to be getting the same point across to the reader, maybe it’s because he’s trying to get it all out of his system. Years of guilt and keeping secrets and hiding from his parents, lying about if he’s taking a shit or not, that is a heavy burden to bear. I think we have to give Portnoy some credit for actually owning up to his deviant deeds in such an explicit way.
The first half of Portnoy’s complaint, while obviously stated already, was quite shocking for a literature class. I got the novel late so after coming to class for the first day of discussion hearing that it was a lot about this Jewish boy masturbating, I was a little nervous to go home and start reading it. While making me feel slightly uncomfortable at first, I found it an easy read from the beginning.
ReplyDeleteI liked the fact that he really captured what I think is pretty stereotypical of the Jewish culture- the overbearing mother and the sort of nerdy breadwinning father. I found myself smirking at the little details he would go into, like when his mom cried over him going out for hamburgers and not eating her home cooked meals, and wanting to see what his “poopie” looked like. What I didn’t get at a first glance, however, was how it tied into the aspect of the first generation American-Jews were trying to hard not to be Americanized. When Spencer brought that up in class I found it a very good point, and that the whole disgustingly awkward details of his masturbation missions were really Alex just trying to have some control in his life.
I think once Alex finally got to go off to Europe with the Monkey without telling his family where he was going and where he could be reached, was his first real chance at being on his own. Was Alex really being suffocated by his parents? Or were they just being good parents to him, and he was the one with the issues. I’m pretty sure why all the while he was making all these criticisms on his parents he forgets to realize that they are immigrants, they are adjusting to a new “American life” but most importantly, they’re trying to raise a family, which isn’t all that easy.
I also think Alex struggles mainly with finding a balance, and half the reason he’s gone so crazy with trying to figure it all out at the therapist’s office is because he’s obsessed with being in control. How he was raised just simply doesn’t allow for him to be an extreme “bad guy” yet he can’t stand being a “good boy” all of the time. I think what Alex really wants the whole time is to be somewhere in the middle, and happily in control, but he just can’t seem to find that medium.
-Kyndall Herman
I completely agree with you, Kyndall! I didn't get this book until this past weekend and not having the book the first two classes and hearing the discussions that were going on about this Jewish boy having trouble with his family and masturbating, I was a bit nervous to read it and catch up. After reading through it, I realized it was not as awkward reading it as I thought it would be from the class interaction. The book flows so you realize what is happening without taking it so seriously were you are uncomfortable. The author captures Alex as a typical young jewish boy who is rebelling against his parents, trying to branch out and find himself in the world. I get annoyed at the mother as much as Alex does just because you learn to connect and feel for Alex so much. I think when Alex leaves for Europe without his parents wishes, it really tests him on whether he is as "bad" as he thinks/seems/wants to be? He absolutely struggles with a balance. He doesn't know what kind of kid he wants to be without his parents bugging him all the time. He wants to be a good kid but yet I think his parents drive him so crazy that he chooses to be bad so they can give up and leave him alone.
DeleteAlex Dishman
ReplyDeleteFor my blog this week I really wanted to elaborate on some of the stuff we discussed in class rather on the book itself. I know that the blog is usually supposed to be about the reading but I figured that since the reading was so much and so broad, I would focus on some smaller subjects. I really wanted to express my thoughts and opinions about what we talked about in class on Monday regarding the good boy/bad boy theme and how he failed as both of those. I also want to brush on the fact that I think an important theme of the novel is social pressure.
I think that throughout this novel, it is really apparent that he is struggling to be this dominant American but he doesn’t know what that really means. He doesn’t know who he is and who he wants to be and it causes him to not know how to truly act or behave. I think his actions come from frustrations he has in his life and all the pressures put on him contributes as well. He has this “fantasy” of what the ideal man is, and I think that everything he goes through confuses him as to why it is in that “fantasy”. This is a major theme of the novel, in my opinion, because it displays assimilation of the Jewish race in a subtle way. In a sense, by having this idea of what it really is to be a dominant American man, it shows the goal of what a Jewish man wants to be in America.
One of the themes that really stood out to me in lecture on Monday was the good/bad boy theme. I think what really makes the novel what it is, is the fact that Alex fails in both the good boy and bad boy roles he “plays”. His parents want him to be this good, traditional Jewish boy who marries a Jewish girl, and is basically the ideal son. He fails them in this regard because he has a lot of sex, tells his Father he is an atheist, he barely visits (he basically does the opposite). He fails as the good boy to his parents because he wants to be this bad boy who has sex all the time and drinks and smokes and just does whatever he wants. But he fails at this because he has a conscience because he is torn at wanting to be the good boy to his parents while being this bad boy to himself. I kind of can relate to this (in a totally different literal way) because I’ve always felt that my goal in life was to be this person that did what I wanted to do but I never could because I always felt bad about it. I also have always felt that I let my parents down so I get why these feelings could mold him into the person he is.
Lastly, I wanted to brush on the idea that I think a theme of this novel is the role of pressure. Alex is constantly feeling pressure from his parents to be this ideal Jewish son and they’ve put pressure on him his entire life, making him the guy he was. Also he has this pressure from on himself to be this savior to women and to his family. I think that all the pressure on Alex throughout his life is what made him the messed up guy that he is and led to all the decisions he’s made in his life.
I agree with a lot of what you posted, but I think something that, not really shocked me, but at least got me thinking, was that in the end of the novel, it seems that Alex truly desires to be the Jewish man he was in a sense "destined" to be. After everything is said and done, he ends up in Israel surrounded on every side by Jews, and realizes that he is a "lover of no one and nothing! Unloved and unloving!" (251). I think this is interesting because the entire novel Alex has been literally sprinting away from his childhood, coming up with every reason possible to hate his mother, father, religion, entire upbringing.....and for what? Towards the end it seems as though he finally understands that he is really the one who fucked up his life, not his family or Judaism as a whole. He sees all these Jews living happy, productive lives and he fully desires to be one of them, to join them. Because of the way he has lived his life, constantly chasing sex and success, striving to impress the people around him with money and intellectual conversation, Alex does not fit in with this ideal Jewish lifestyle. For this reason he craves to, I guess you could say rape Naomi. "This is what it's like in Diaspora, you saintly kiddies, this is what it's like in exile! Temptation and disgrace! Corruption and self-mockery! Self-deprecation - and self-defecation too!... Yes, Naomi, I am soiled, oh, I am impure - and also pretty fucking tired, my dear, of never being quite good enough for The Chosen People" (266). This quote perfectly explains Alex's inner turmoil of trying, but failing to conform to Jewish standards, although if he is being honest with himself...did he really try?
DeleteI totally agree with your view on Alex's conflict with the good boy/bad boy roles he wants to fullfil and the constant pressure that puts him under. I believe this story truly demonstrates the theory of Nurture vs. Nature and which part of childs life plays a greater role in shaping their personality and character in adulthood. Nature or the American society he lives in portrays a man as independent, strong, and sex driven, something Alex fails to attain but desperately wants to be seen as. Then on the other side you have his parents(Nurture) who want to shape him into an honest and successful Jewish boy, which Alex does not want. So he is caught in between this two ideals of masculinity that really mess with his head and puts him in constant conflict with those around him.
DeleteAt the beginning of my reading of Portnoy’s Complaint, I found myself entertained, yet a bit uncomfortable by the vulgarity and bluntness of Roth’s writing. Alex’s obsession with sex and masturbating was at first funny, and then became sort of annoying to me because the novel just seemed to me just a raunchy Jewish comedy about a confused man, and I was unsure as to why we were even reading it in this class. Through further reading and listening in on class discussion, however, I can finally appreciate the artistry in Roth’s work and I’m amazed at how he utilizes the theme of sex to represent something so much bigger than just plain sex. I feel that everything in this story always relates back to the relationship between Alex and his Judaism someway or another. On one level, this theme of sexuality represents Alex’s rebellion from the strict laws of his Jewish culture. He wants so badly to break away from the Jewish traditions that he has been brought up with because he almost feels constricted and limited by his religion in America. Thus, by being extremely sexually promiscuous, he is able to rebel against his traditional cultural values in his own little way.
ReplyDeleteThat said, this novel is very different from any other piece that we’ve read thus far in the class because of the protagonist’s view on Judaism. Roth shines a very negative light on the religion, as we see Alex so adverse to his Judaism. The entire story, all we see is him trying to break through the “boundaries” that being Jewish sets on him in America. There are very scarce examples in the novel of Alex actually embracing his Jewish culture.
Going back to the relationship between sexuality and religion, Alex’s sexuality on a second level represents freedom and power. In having sex with non-Jewish, American women, Alex, for once in his life, feels as though he has power over his American peers. Since being Jewish has a negative, weak connotation in Alex’s mind, these many acts of sexual perverseness throughout the story help him to stay from Jewish tradition and feel a sense of authority by essentially “conquering” these women. In the novel, Alex says “What I’m saying, Doctor, is that I don’t seem to stick my dick up these girls, as much as I stick it up their backgrounds” (Roth 235). This sums up, in a nut shell, one of the reasons why Alex, in my opinion, is so obsessed with sex.
I agree with everything that Chynna said. I think the points that Roth tries to make regarding the Jewish religion are conveyed successfully. This is because it's done through sexual metaphors which are so strong and in your face that the reader cannot ignore them. Well other stories have had symbolism and representation that could be overlooked, this possibly offense theme used by the author could not be. I also agree in terms of how this novel is different than most of the other material that we have read. While there has been sexual themes present before, they have not been this strong and repetitive. Another thing that separates this novel from our other reads is it's reflection of the jewish religion. While other novels projected the jewish culture with repression or an outcast identity, Roth's novel seemed to display a negative attitude towards it. The main character Alex, and his intense sexual nature are a rebellion to the what he sees as the restrictions of the Jewish religion. I thought it was very interesting that Alex seemed to feel weak simply because he's Jewish. His father only reinforces this. To combat that he seeks to regain a sense of power and control by sleeping with American women. This thought process by Alex is very interesting because of the comparison of religious Identity to national Identity. I guess this occurs because as we've seen before, the Jewish immigrants wanted to assimilation into the American culture. Doing this would give one more power, and I think Alex saw having sex with these American women as a way to assimilate. All of the other main character's so far have never questioned their faith, but it was very interesting to see this new point of view from Alex. Something that I found enhanced the work as a whole was the way that Roth conveyed Alex's stream of conciseness. The sometimes scattered and random thoughts of Alex made it easier for me to get into his mind and understand the novel better as a whole.
DeleteOverall I think this novel took some giant risk, especially for the time period that it was written in. And why this novel is so highly regarded is confusing for the first half of the book which just seems a bit to sexual. But by the end Roth pulls it all together to make some strong point's about the possible problems and restrictions encountered by growing up Jewish in America.
I agree with Chynna in the sense that throughout the book Alex’s biggest struggle seems to be with Judaism. When I first started reading the book, I too didn’t know how to react act to such strong themes of sex. Even in this day and age, where talking about sex is a lot more common, the book still shocked me. However when we talked in class about the deeper meaning behind all his actions, I grew to understand and enjoy the book more. I noticed that I changed the way I read the book. In the beginning when I read it I found the paragraphs about sex and masturbation to be funny yet disturbing. However, by the end of the book when Alex talked about sex, it immediately brought up questions in my mind such as, how it relates back to his Jewish culture.
DeleteWe talked about in class the idea that no one really knows Roth’s motives behind this book. Because of all the different themes in this novel, it is hard to tell if Roth is making fun of certain things or not. However the idea that Roth always keeps the reader guessing about the moral behind this novel is what intrigues me most.
I completely agree with Chynna's post, the novel is fundamentally based upon a boy's yearning to go against the grain and ignore the practices of his religion in order to find fulfillment in life. The novel has developed and shifted away from its repeated focus on sexuality and we are able to delve deeper into the mind of Alex towards the end of the novel. He is not as troubled as I had first assumed due to his constant masturbation. He uses sex as an escape from the grip of his religion. That quote Chynna posted clearly defines the mindset of Alex. He is not infatuated with sex but religion, in my opinion. Even though he is repeatedly performing sexual acts and thinking vulgar thoughts I believe he uses it to abstain from the Judaism forced upon him. I realize that Roth’s true motives behind the work are still a mystery, but it feels like he uses the sexuality to mask the true theme of non- conforming to religion. He uses humor to entertain while portraying a life of a young boy who wants to experience the world and all of its wonders. In all, after completing the novel, I have gained a much deeper respect for the book. It has been a whirlwind of emotions from the beginning of the book, where he was masturbating constantly, even with cold meats, but looking back, it seems to all tie back to Alex’s reluctance to conform to the practices of Judaism.
DeleteStephanie Jones
ReplyDeleteAt the beginning of this semester, when I saw that we would be reading Portnoy’s Complaint, I already had an idea of what I’d be in for seeing as how I’d previously read the book last semester for another class. However, after talking to Spencer about it, I was under the impression that I’d being seeing this book in a whole different light after reading it a second time. And so far, that notion has been correct. Although I was already aware of the significance of Alex’s apparent obsession with sex, I wasn’t quite as tuned into the underlying themes of Judaism and masculinity in the novel. I was already aware of Alex’s obsession with sex being somewhat of an outlet of freedom for him. Masturbation appears to be the only thing Alex can control, thus being a symbol of independence from the over-bearing nature of his mother. I suppose that, while reading it for the first time last semester, I was too distracted by the wonderful vulgarity and hilarity of Portnoy’s Complaint to really read in to the deeper meaning of it all. However, after reading it through a second time and sitting through a second round of discussions on the novel, I’ve gotten a completely different view of some of the themes and struggles addressed in this book.
For instance, the first theme I’ve really been able to hone in on is this theme of role-model masculinity and Alex’s struggle to be someone who is different from his father. I found our talk in class on Monday about Alex’s fascination with balancing a Jewish and American identity to be really interesting. Although I was aware of Alex’s resentment towards his un-manly father after reading it the first time through, I see now that it has a lot more to do with than just sex. Alex strives to be a real man; a man’s man, and he doesn’t get a positive example of that from his father. Therefore, the only outlet he can possibly think of to prove his masculinity is through having unfulfilling sex with all of these women. Although they (the women) fulfill his primal, sexual needs, he still feels somewhat guilty about the nonchalance of it all. Because of the pansy-like nature of his father, Alex believes that the only way to be masculine is to be everything that is the opposite of his father, such as having sex with women and not caring about it. However, as we discussed in class, his conscience keeps getting in the way. This is where Alex’s sheltered up-bringing really shines through, because we all know that there are plenty of other ways to be masculine. However, Alex doesn’t seem to be able to grasp that concept. He seems so desensitized to having mindless sex with women that he doesn’t realize that there are other ways to go about achieving true masculinity.
I agree with Stephanie in that the roll of masculinity is very interessting. I like that Alex faces this problem of masculinity, I think because his father is so clearly no the "pants-wearer" of the relationship, because it is something everyone can relate too. Although for girls its finding your feminine niche, but I watched as my 2 brothers struggled for it, they chose to pick on me instead, but Alex is not satisfied with just calling his sister fat. He tries to find his masculinity by degrading women, which is definitely a cowardly approach to the situation because being a man isn't about putting others down but doing what's right for your self and your family. Alex is incredibly self involved from the constant scrutiny from his moms relentless need to be a helicopter mom. Since she makes her husband feel immasculated Alex tries to fight this his whole life by doing things to rebel against her. Which again is another way to deter himself from finding his masculinity. Alex tries to be the opposite of his father just like Stephanie said, could not be more true. Alex has some sort of idea that if someone is not masculine than rather. Hange a few things, Alex tries to be the opposite. However, the opposite slightly less masculine seems to be slightly less masculine in other ways.
DeleteLeslie Oxford
DeleteUnlike Stephanie, I have never read Portnoy's Complaint before this class. Therefore, I can understand what Stephanie says about being "distracted by the wonderful vulgarity and hilarity of Portnoy’s Complaint to really read in to the deeper meaning of it all." However, I am thankful that I have the opportunity to jump into a deeper analysis of the material than the straight forward idea of Alex masturbating for freedom. Perhaps the more powerful underlying message in Portnoy's Complaint is the struggle between the powerful women and emasculated men. Alex has dealt with his controlling mother his entire life. His mother is the quintessential Jewish mother and consequently has been overbearing, as Stephanie pointed out. Most of Alex's behavior towards women is a direct result of the ineffectual feelings caused by his mother. This power-play is demonstrated especially via the names Alex calls the women in his life. He calls them "Monkey", "Pumpkin", and "Pilgrim"; he does not dignify these women with names. It is his way of fighting back through the emasculation of himself and his father. In Alex's head, this is a means of evening the score and a manner in which Alex Portnoy can become a strong American man.
Ashley Hicks
ReplyDeleteLike Alex, I also want to focus more on the class discussion rather than the novel itself because I think the theme of masculinity in the novel is very interesting. When it was brought up in class I was very quick to jump on the bandwagon. Coming from a family of four brothers I personally see what the ideal American masculine male should be, and Alex is very far from it.
The ideal dominant American boy is strong, confident, independent and free but Alex cannot met this. He has great internal struggle in battling to become this when he is nothing like it. Masculinity in Jewish terms would circle more around ones intellectual level, something Alex is very strong in. He struggles to find his own Jewish male identity against the popular Anglo Christian standard. You see his lack of masculinity in his submission to his mother and especially in his desire to cry.
You really see in this section of the reading how overbearing his mother and father can be. The thought that his mother wants to see his “poopie” really just blows my mind (and also made my kid side laugh a little). Also the fact that she was that upset over a teenage boy going to get a hamburger instead of eating a home-cooked meal is crazy. I’ve meet some pretty overprotecting parents but not to this extreme. This is also a great cause of Alex’s internal struggles. He can never actually please anyone, including himself. His parents want the perfect son, to be a good Jew, marry a Jewish girl, to visit and so on. Since he cannot do this I think he is always at a constant internal uneasiness. I think this is also why he leaves monkey.
His first chance of being on his own was leaving with monkey to Europe without telling his parents. This was the first time in his life he did something on his own and that makes him, in my opinion, “the typical dominant American male”. I think they have such a strong desire to each other because they share the same crazy sex desires and also the lack of family love that they are always striving for. But then why does he leave her?
Alex is the type of person who always needs to be in charge. He is an extremely intelligent person, which is where he gets all his power from. He needs to find the balance between the “good” boy and the “bad” boy.
I agree that the class discussion on masculinity is very interesting. I feel bad for Alex because he cannot reach this ideal man, which in turn keeps him from happiness. He is having this conflicting sense and idea of what is a man. There is the Jewish American American definition and the Protestant American one. The Jewish one has more to do with being an intelect while the other is this powerful and independent version. Alexends up somewhere in the middle of the spectrum, causing him a lot of confusion. I also agree that the degree of how much the mother wants control of Alex is ridiculous. I thought my parents were controling, but this is just a whole other level. I also agree that Alex is the type of person who wants to be in control, but I am not sure if he ever is. He appears to either be following or delibritly disobeying his parents. This then raises the question of is anything Alex does really of his choice or his parents (mother)? Because it seems to me that if Alex does something, like go eat a hamburger to spite his parents, then his actions are still being influenced by his parents.
DeleteKayleigh Koskan
ReplyDeletePortnoy’s Complaint has to be one of the weirdest yet most descriptive stories I have ever read. I was really disgusting at the beginning. Alex’s constant masturbating and in weird ways really grossed me out. It was a little difficult for me to get through all of that. But as the story went on it got easier and more interesting I suppose is the right word. What really stood out to me out of this entire book was the part where Alex was telling his father that he is not Jewish, nor does he believe in a higher power at all. I think this was a huge part of the book because it really let you in to a deeper meaning of why he is the way he is and why he resents his family so much. They are always pressuring the significance and importance of their being a God and Alex has this attitude towards the belief that is different than his families. I also think that Alex feels guilt for being in America at this time, rather than in Europe where the Jewish people are being punished. I think this guilt is forcing him to think that if he tells himself and others that he is not Jewish than he won’t feel so bad about what is going on with his group of people overseas. Other than that aspect of this story, I really did not feel relatable to it at all. I think that it was just about a boy who did not really know who he was. He was always told who he had to be, what he could and could not do, Alex never got to make his own choices growing up and in turn that is why he feels so alone. The thing about Portnoy’s Complaint that made it almost impossible for me to sit down and read for long time periods, that made me not like this book very much, was the fact that his family was so screwed up it was to a point where I was annoyed. They cry over everything, it is way too emotional for my liking. The father is an ignorant asshole which is ironic because he’s constipated all the time. His sister conforms to whatever his father says. Alex’s mother is completely insane. She freaks out over the smallest things, like him eating French fries, and complains to his father about it all. This poor kid is the product of two psychotic human beings which is why he has problems himself. Although there also is another take on it where I think that maybe his parents aren’t psycho, they’re just trying to establish a European Jewish take on life in an American Jewish town. Alex may be torn between growing up in America, trying to live the American way, while his parents’ minds are still stuck in Europe trying to raise their kids that way.
As was stated by everyone before me, the first half of Portnoy was us learning about his younger, more vulgar self who enjoyed normal childlike things such as masturbation and his mother. Please excuse my sarcasm. About halfway through the novel though, things change from funny and vulgar to informative and enlightening. While I spent the first half of the novel with my eyes wide open, trying to wrap my head around some of the things that were being said and taking place, the second half of the novel I really found myself deeply enriched in the language and couldn’t keep myself from reading.
ReplyDeleteI really like novels where the readers get to watch the main character grow before our eyes because it helps us really get into the mind of the characters because we learn their likes and dislikes along the way. With Alex, we get to watch him grow up from a sex crazed teenager to a grown man who really has no idea what his life has become and even what he wants out of life. He says he wants a family and a wife, yet he finds himself leaving every woman he’s with for silly reasons. It’s like he finds every flaw possible with the girls just so he can talk himself out of being with them and at the same time, complaining that he doesn’t have a wife and kids yet.
I really like the fast paced style of this navel because it keeps me hooked, and I am not one who gets hooked onto books very easily. The fast paced style makes the book seem about half as long as it actually is and in turn makes reading it a lot easier. In the beginning all I could really focus on was the language because I had never read such a vulgar book, but as I got used to it I was really able to look into the deeper meaning of the text. All in all I thought this was a great novel and I am glad that we read it.
Josh, I completely agree with what you are saying here. Portnoy’s Complaint is a novel that has awesome underlying meaning but it may be hard to notice that at first due to the vulgarity and language style of the piece. And the language really did have me in a trance for a while as well and I struggled to notice much else about the piece until almost halfway through. And you are also right about how the novel is an easier, faster paced read than it looks to be when you first start off. Alex’s struggle to find what he wants out of life is the main plot line to this story and it is shown by his masturbation-crazed teenage years and in his adult years in a different way. The way in which Alex struggles in his adult years is when he is leaving women for stupid reasons yet the whole time saying he wants to make a family and settle down. I also enjoyed this novel and thought of it as a very interesting story, all said and done I feel as though many people could relate to many different things within the piece and that is why it is such good read.
DeleteHailey Dolan
ReplyDeleteI as well would like to mention that I have yet to finish the book. I am also just over 200 pages, so my blog will be about information up till that point.
The majority of discussion in class was about the masculinity portrayed in the book, and surely there are many examples of it. Such as the father's inability to perform normal bodily functions, Alex's obsession with being the best intellectually, sexually and physically, etc. But we haven't gotten into depth about the feministic stand point this book brings forth.
Though much more subtle than the masculinity, the femininity is present from the very beginning. It becomes clearer farther into the book that Alex Portnoy is a male chauvinist, however the early signs begin during early childhood when he references his sister, Hannah. Alex gives an anecdote about accidentally eating Hannah's pudding at one point. To justify himself, he explains that a doctor didn't want her eating it anyway and proceeds to call her "fat", "sluggish", and born "not something people wanted to take special looks at". He also shows how lowly he thinks of her by stating that he has "never taken her seriously as a genuine object of anybody's love". But at least when he comes into his adolescence, Alex gives her enough respect to see her as the only sane one in his family.
Hannah is not the only woman Alex degrades, however. When Alex is an adult, he meets this woman whose name is never given. He simply refers to her as The Monkey. Not only is Alex not giving her enough decency to use her real name, he's nicknamed her after an animal. On multiple occasions Alex has made clear his intellectual superiority over The Monkey. He even makes a conscious recognition of this when he reads poems to her. He feels he is rubbing it in her face that she is not on his intellectual level, and that is exactly what he is doing. He repeatedly tries to convince himself to love her simply because she is beautiful and a good lover and that he should overlook her "imperfections", as in her stupidity and craziness.
Even the wanting of a masculine father shows Alex's views about women. He doesn't think his mother should be the one to wear the pants in the family, but she is. The view about women may be why Alex is the way he is: unable to love a woman and having no desire to be married.
Natalie Palmer
DeleteHailey, I agree with many of the points you made.
First of all, the ideal of masculinity plays a key role in this novel. We find the extremes Alex takes as a sort of "antihero." His control of his own penis, the only thing he believes he has any control over, is his tool - no pun intended - to remind himself that he has power over his own life.
His obsession with making himself "perfect" is also another focus I picked up on. He's always trying to make himself better, which is great in theory, but in practice he takes it to extremes.
And Hailey touched on a point I didn't pick up on. His misogynistic tendencies are quite profound. The treatment of his sister and the treatment of "The Monkey" portray his less perfect side. To him, he probably sees this as a masculine thing, but to the reader, this comes across as chauvinistic.
Hailey's reasoning for his desire to be unmarried and his inability to love a woman sounds spot on. If viewed in that light, it totally makes sense.
Desiree Amadeo
ReplyDeleteThe ending page of Portnoy's Complaint struck me more than the rest of the book - and that's saying something considering how consistently arresting the rest of the novel was in my opinion. Alex's anti-Darwinistic retrogradation to an animalistic state displays, what I think to be, his ultimate surrender to imperfection - the thing he's been fighting most his whole life - and the role Social Darwinism plays in the book.
To begin with, I find it very interesting that his regression is depicted to be animalistic - the most fittingly assumed societal regression for an atheistic, Americanized man such as himself, as opposed to his Jewish, Creationist family. My interest in this depiction especially peaks when considering the anthropological studies that were conducted in the 1960s by Social Darwinist's on the influence that DNA has upon human qualitative behavior - such as mate selection or self-sacrifice to benefit the greater good.
Another striking quality about his regression to an animal is that one of the main recurring female characters in the story is named Monkey - an animal that drips with Darwinistic iconicity. Monkey is clearly less educated than he, and therefore, one could conclude that by natural selection she is also a lesser human being. How fitting then, that Alex, in his final descent, becomes animalistic like Monkey which he's "superior" to in the rest of the book.
Finally, the fact he becomes an animal, regardless of whether or not Darwinism is taken into account (though I still think it plays a part in Roth's choice of transformation), shows his ultimate surrender to the animalistic mindset he's been plagued with all his life - selfishly motivated ambition, unemotional and rashly urgent sexual desires, and even violence in certain cases. All three of those are very primitive in nature in contrast to Alex's socially advanced intelligence.
Roth's literary genius is played out in the last page by not only concluding the story in a holistic way - the protagonists demise found in the very thing he's fought all along - but it also closes in a way that shows us (in my opinion) a very strong commentary made by Roth on society around him. The current social developments in regards to evolution, DNA, and its affects on how one chooses a mate and what one will sacrifice to better others manifest through various narrative elements such as the issues faced by Alex throughout his life and his final descent to an animal.
One of the things I also liked about Portnoy's Complaint was the fact that you could almost watch Alex develop, but throughout the second half of the novel he seems to be spiraling into confusion and his life is in disarray. Most novels have the narrator in a better place at the conclusion than they were when the book started, but Alex does not seem to end that way. Not only does his life become more insane and crazy, his speech becomes more erratic and confusing, allowing readers to understand exactly how far he's falling. The first half of the book shows readers a good foundation as to why he does this but some of the things he does seem to be more in the side of nature than nurture.
DeleteAlex seems to lose his sense of self the further I read into the novel. He says that he wants a wife and kids, but his actions are completely contrary to this, especially when he nearly rapes Naomi, the woman he asks to be the mother of his children. He really doesn't seem to know what he wants which stems from not knowing himself emotionally. It's not that Alex is immature, it's that he's filled with self-doubt after a lifetime of being told exactly what to do, how to do it, and when to do it. He's fighting against his mother's voice in his head while at the same time trying to find his own way.
Devin Harkins
ReplyDeleteIn Portnoy’s Complaint I find it interesting that Alex is constantly being pulled back and forth between being the “good boy” that his parents want him to be and the “bad boy” that he believe society wants from him. The overbearing mother wants Alex to be a good boy by being a loyal Jewish man who marries a Jewish girl and raises a family. She wants the family to grow and have grandchildren who often visit. To sum it up Alex’s mother wants him to be obedient. She wants him to be her innocent, little helper who never questions her and always follows her orders. She acts like a General and Alex is her mindless solider who carries out her orders. Alex’s father wants him to be obedient but in a much less intense ideal. Jack wants Alex to “save” the family and bring them honor by raising them up the social ladder. Although the father isn’t as upfront with his domineering dreams for Alex; he still manages to put a large amount of pressure on the child. Even after Alex grows up and moves away from home he still cannot totally escape his parents. Alex believes that in order to fit in and be respected in American society he needs to be the “bad boy.” He wants to have total freedom in all aspects of his life including sex. Alex thinks that a true man in America should be able to have sex with whoever and whenever without any emotional attachments or guilt. He also believes that a real man is strong, stoic, and brave (unlike his father). Although Alex wants to see himself in this bad boy lifestyle he finds it very difficult. Alex cannot lie, smoke, drink, or sleep around without feeling extremely guilty. When Alex was a child he couldn’t even run away from home without feeling guilty and returning home with his head down in shame. The only thing Alex thinks he has succeeded at is being Intelligent. Alex constantly plays off of his intelligence because he is so insecure about all other aspects of his life. A big reason Alex enjoys Monkey’s company so much is that he can easily out-smart her and shows off his intelligence. No matter how hard he tries Alex cannot please anyone including his parents, women, and even himself. He has a hard time coping with this so he uses his wit and cleverness to hide his insecurities.
Vanessa Previl
DeleteAfter reading this novel, I agree that Alex is in conflict of being his parents’ good boy and society’s bad boy. One can say that Alex is in a battle between his id and his super ego which crushes his ego negatively. I see it like this, his super ego wants him to be in control and have freedom but his id is trying to please his parents and the American society – even his id was in battle and trying to balance all three can be very difficult and now I see why he turned to masturbating, it was his outlet.
Not saying that his parents were bad parents because I know that they wanted to see the best for him and there is no guide on how to raise Alex properly to fit his temperament and way of thinking but the way the approached him was just overwhelming – so much pressure. So I do blame them, especially the mother, for his outcome. The father’s pressure of bring the family up the society ladder is normal, every parent want to see their child succeed. But the mother’s pressure to me is just a little unrealistic and she was to overbearing. If she had learned to let go and not control every little detail she could about Alex, I believe things would be different.
After finishing the book I am able to say that I really enjoyed it. At face value- I would assume one would find the story very vulgar with uneasy feelings of the sexual upheaval. I would admit that at first, I too had these feelings of uneasiness as I began reading the story. At first it became clear that the young boy, Alex, and narrator of the story is trying to find his identity by using escapism through ‘forbidden’ sexual endeavors. It is a very unique type of story that keeps the reader motivated to read on and try and figure out what exactly is Alex’s problem. We find that he is talking to his psychiatrist, and we immediately see that he has an identity crisis. As we read along, we see that Portnoy is obsessed with masturbation and has a very strange relationship with his parents. His mother, Sophie, seems to be a complete opposite of his father. Both parents with their conflicting ideals of a child’s upbringing have a detrimental impact on Alex’s development. Dr. Speilvogel tries and helps Alex figure out why he has become such a sexually perverted young man.
ReplyDeleteIt is evident, especially with his relationship with Monkey, that there is an extreme cognitive dissonance that is making up a huge part of his obsessive personality. This dissonance, which one can assume is due to his ill upbringing. I was especially interested in the development of Alex and the Freudian concept of the Id, Ego, and Superego. It was an interesting critique to substitute some characters in the story: Alex, his mother, and his father, in substitute for these Freudian terms. It seems that Alex is the ego- a conscious developed being with an identity crisis and an obsession with sex. His father would relate more to the Id, the most primordial state of being- repressed emotions and just worried about innate qualities. Lastly, his mother could exemplify the superego, the one most responsible of his moral development. However, there is definitely confliction between both his parents and their different views. With using the Freudian concepts and a critical view of the relationship with their parents; it is interesting to see that there is conflicting views between Alex’s ID and superego which he cannot shake. This problem, beginning in his early childhood, is a major cause for the development of his disgusting attitude. Though perverted at times, it is truly beautiful how deep the iceberg goes as we read more and more of this story.
James,
DeleteI think you bring up some great points. This story has all the elements of the typical Jewish American Literation we have read thus far. Alex struggles with his identity, as you mention, and his mother seems to be the dominant throughout this entire story, much like "How I Found America". I would go so far as to say that his mother is at fault for the way he turned out. Alex is immersed in conflicting versions of himself and his mother only complicates things for him. It's interesting that you point out that these conflicting versions of him stem from the Freudian point of view.
What is different about the story is that it introduces us into the sexual revolution, which almost seems to backfire on Alex finding his identity. It would be interesting to me, if you analyzed his conflicting self with the idea of sex between him and other Americans. The Americans seem to have no guilt; while Alex's demise stems from the guilt he has from belittling women. For instance, was masturbation itself causing Alex's ID and superego to intensify, or was this just another factor reason that he struggled so much with his identity?
In the end I think Alex finds a better version of himself. I don't think he has found himself entirely but he realizes all his fantasies will not complete the whole inside him. For all the sexual freedom in the world couldn't give him the love he lacks in his intimate relationships as well as the relationship (or lack thereof) with his parents, who would rather he better them than them parent him with love and nurture.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI too agree with Ms. Diaz, I feel like the first portion of the novel was a set up, sort of explanation to his present life traumas. Although it seems to me that it is more of an excuse for his life traumas, more than an explanation. It is clear that he is being held back by the dilemmas he is faced with, in being in love with a non-Jewish girl, but not only that, an uneducated woman. These are things that due to his childhood upbringing and the conflicts he has with his parental relationships he is not able to defend. He asks himself is he “should” love The Monkey, therefore feeling entrapped in his own choices, as if now being a 30 year old man he is still being gripped by his mother. Reading this was sort of saddening in a sense because to see a successful man, with everything at his fingertips, he is still unable to make choices for himself. He is still unable to make choices that will make him happy for fear of his family’s judgments. Only in being in a reclusive state, far away from New York, could he be himself, and even then he could not be himself fully. It is almost as if he has no identity other than that of being a repressed momma’s boy, even with all his accomplishments and success.
ReplyDelete