I found Portnoy’s Complaint to be a more interesting read than many of the other books I’ve read in high school and college simply because I found it somewhat relatable. Alex is like any other person, confused about life and getting into arguments with his parents while trying to establish his own identity. He has the added difficulties of growing up during the Depression and then World War II, as well as being Jewish during a time of extensive anti-Semitism, but he still remains a character that I can connect to. Readers are thrust so far into his mind that it is cringe-worthy at times, but this makes Alex real. Many of us in the audience have gone through some of the same situations, (although I can’t speak for what it is like to be a teenage boy), such as getting yelled at by our parents for something as stupid as eating a hamburger. Alex also is a real character because of his wish to create his own identity, separate from that of his parents, which everyone tries to do about the time they became a teenager. He stops including his mother in all of his activities and starts striking out on his own, something that she is very unhappy about, as any overly involved mother would be. The saddest part of the novel so far I think was the part about Alex’s cousin Harold, or Heshie, and his fiancée Alice. Alice isn’t Jewish, so the entire family opposes their engagement. Eventually Harold’s father tells Alice that Harold has an incurable disease and pays her to leave him. The family thinks that they are helping him, but in reality they are just driving away his one ray of happiness. Soon after, Harold enlists in the Army and is killed in combat. Instead of giving him his time with Alice and what little happiness they would have found, Harold’s family took it upon themselves to meddle in his life and drive her away. Alex’s character confesses his life story to a Doctor, presumably a psychologist, in some sort of effort to understand why he is so messed up. I don’t think he’s messed up though. Yes, Alex is kind of weird and has an odd family, but that’s actually normal. Alex comes off as a normal character to me, except that readers get a very intimate look at his mind, which serves to make him seem abnormal.
I agree with you for the most part Kendall. I believe that Alex is facing many normal problems that entail growing up as a kid trying to find himself. He attempts to branch away from his parents to truly experience life without their influence. He wants to find who he is and establish his identity. I do believe that Alex is more on the normal side of the spectrum but I don’t think he is completely normal. The fact that his intimate thoughts are revealed to us makes him seem a little stranger than he truly is, but I feel that there is some sort of slight disorder or childhood uncomfort afflicting him. He has some sort of reason to be talking to a doctor or psychologist about his life. I feel that he is a little abnormal because of the confusion he faced as a child. We all face confusion but Alex experienced it a little more by the unconditional love his mother showed him then have her threatening him with a kitchen knife just because he didn’t feel hungry after she made him food. All kids face confusion, but I feel Alex’s sampled two opposite sides of a spectrum, feeling his mother’s love, then having his life threatened by her the next minute. His cousin Heshie’s circumstances and story I feel afflicted him in a negative way too. It’s not easy to deal with knowing that you and your families ideas and prejudices were the reason for driving away another family member’s happiness. I don’t see Alex as a true lunatic who needs to be in an asylum, but I see him as a little bit off from normal.
I also agree with Brett's thinking of Alex having a mild abnormality - he's not psycho, but there is something there that's a tad off-kilter. I think the fact that the same images pervade the majority of his bad memories (masturbation, knives, etc) speak to the fact that there is an underlying, universal issue in which all these unfavorable memories take root. The vast array of individual differences within each chapter of his life may be narratively diverse in subject and social context, but each one of them, in some way, relates back to his hate for his father, the love/hate relationship he has with his mother, and his struggle as he grapples to make sense of his inner complexity. Throughout the book thus far, we frequently see that Alex has to manipulate the often adverse consequences of his own actions, the predicaments imposed upon him by others, and the task of understanding the difference between these two - being able to truly differentiate between something that is a direct consequence of a decision he made (i.e. his semen hanging on a lightbulb) and what's simply a painful event he's going through, but has no control over. It seems as though his lack of clarity on which is which - did he unjustly provoke and therefore deserve his mother's murderous threats? or was she just crazy? - leaves him with an unnecessarily large amount of guilt (which we talked about in class) that clearly still plagues him and adds to the issues he's seeing the psychiatrist for.
Kayleigh Koskan I agree with a lot of what you are saying. Alex is just trying to find out who he really is as a person as every teenager goes through that. I too think that he is a normal, mediocre kid that just seems to be an odd person because we are reading so far into his thoughts. I mean we all have some pretty crazy thoughts once in a while but, like Alex, we’d never say it out loud. I do however think that a lot of his weirdness is due to his parents. His mom seems extremely up tight. Reading this story I was really annoyed by her. She yells at Alex for the most ridiculous things and I believe she is way too emotional of a person; I feel like she constantly cries over the tiniest things. Alex’s father is very odd himself. He is constantly talking about being constipated as if everyone wants to hear about that. I think he places too much confidence in his son and it is weighing down on Alex. I think the reason he is talking to a doctor, I assume a psychologist, is because he is still afraid of letting his parents down. He is trying to break away from their control on him as well and is confused about how to handle his past with everything that happened. I believe all of this is killing him inside and he needs help figuring himself out.
Alex Dishman I agree with what Kayleigh said in that he is talking to a doctor because he is afraid of letting his parents down. I think he is in living in the shadows of trying to be their ideal son and he can’t let himself get away from the idea of not being perfect for them. His father puts a lot of pressure on him by the way he acts and it reflects on the struggle Alex is facing in trying to figure out who he is. Like many teenagers, who constantly face the dilemma of wanting to be there own person but not knowing who that is, Alex is exploring who he is through the story. The way his mother acts molded him as well and contributes a lot to his relationship with her and with himself. I think the way his parents raised him and the way they treat him I also think that he is trying to figure out who he is also. I have to admit that the story is extremely graphic and disgusting and it was disturbing to read. I think the whole constipation thing and the masturbation thing are both gross and too detailed in my opinion. I have to be honest when I say that this is going to be a weird read for me but I am looking forward to finishing it.
Justin Huntman I agree with Kendall, this was a very interesting book. As you stated this is because it very relatable to us as young readers. This story was not anything to what I had expected it to been when I picked up the book and started reading it. To be honest it caught me completely off guard. But, so far in what we have read I feel that Alex makes this story so relatable that the story is easy to read and follow what was going on in the story because I feel like I have been in very similar situations. Being Jewish Male I somehow feel like I relate even more. The example Kendal uses about the family not wanting Harold to marry out side the religion is very understandable. I feel with examples like that I can relate even culturally to what is going on there because that is something still popular today. It if felt in Jewish culture especially with Jewish boys that they should be only marry Jewish girls. I can really relate to how the family feels that they are doing the right thing for Harold, because I personally understand where the family it coming from in this example.
I agree with all of you: defenitely an interesting read that captures the attention of the reader. The perversion that is so evident reminded of some scenes from "murderers"; although a lot more enjoyable and easier to follow. I found it most interesting while reading more about the main character and his upbringing. Clearly, with an upbringing like his- one would undergo some psychological issues, which makes the reader want to have a more intimate relationship with the main character, Alex. The struggle Alex faces seems to be, in most part, due to the unhealthy relationship that he has had with his parents. So far, I've been very interested in the book- and it seems that it is dealing with themes of developing self identity, as many of the past reads have dealth with.
Natalie Palmer I really didn't know what to expect when I started reading Portnoy's Complaint. Before even opening the book, I had expected it to be a "Coming to America" kind of story. We’d read a lot of these in class and I have also read many of them in the past. Well, obviously I was wrong. The perversions of this book are thoroughly entertaining and hilarious. We get such a vivid description of his fetishes and sexual appetite that it's almost impossible to say that this book was anywhere near my expectations. Alex is normal by any teenager's standards. Looking into the mind of any teenage boy, we'd probably find very similar perversions. And as Kendall mentioned in the post above mine, it's because we get such a detailed, graphic image of his erotic nature that Alex comes off as abnormal. I love the integral role his parents play in his life. As we discussed in class, his Oedipus complex is a major part of his character. The image we get of his mother is of a woman who can do no wrong. She is perfect in every light and Alex idolizes her. Alex's father, though, on the other hand, is someone he does not idolize. From the beginning, the first picture we get of his father is where he is on the toilet, constipated. We get a very good picture of his family dynamic. A lot of expectations are placed on Alex’s shoulders. His father has no real aim to succeed in life, and instead puts all of his effort into hoping Alex will have a profitable future. This kind of pressure on a child is no joke, and I can see how it has only added to his mountain of insecurities as he confesses to his psychologist all of his complaints. What I found especially interesting were the low expectations given to his sister. It seems as if they expected nothing out of her in the first place, and thusly treated her like she would amount to nothing her entire life. His parents are extremists with their children, treating one like she will never become much of anything, while placing the weight of the world on the other child’s shoulders. I’m wondering where there is any gender-based discrimination against his sister in this case. All in all, I’m looking forward to this book and what our protagonist will reveal to us next.
Hailey Dolan I think everyone can agree that Portnoy’s Complaint is not what we were expecting to read. I like that Natalie brought the Oedipus Complex in to the light. There are many psychological references within just the first few pages. It is completely natural for a young boy to have this idealistic view of his mother while having a negative view of his father. It is also extremely natural for this to go away while in adolescence. We start to see that the mother becomes less of this ideal superhuman and more of a nagging annoyance allowing the audience to really see inside Alex’s head. We have that direct connection to his thoughts throughout his stream of consciousness. Something Natalie did not mention that I kept thinking as I read was this stream of consciousness could get a tad confusing at times. Jumping back and forth between memories and the present and different ages could throw off the reader, however, it kept me intrigued at the same time. One minute Alex and his mother are arguing and the next paragraph is about him admiring her stockings as a child. This sudden and constant change keeps the reader on their toes. Alex’s character being relatable was also something that held my interest. Everyone knows what it’s like to have an overprotective parent or at least argue with one that Alex does with his mother. I’m not sure where this story is going but I am becoming more and more anxious to find out.
Natalie, I think it’s safe to say you aren’t the only one who experienced this particular reaction to Portnoy’s Complaint the first time you read it. I read Portnoy’s Complaint last semester for another lit class, and my reaction was quite similar. I was a bit taken aback by the vulgarity of it all, but thruthfully I found it rather amusing. I think the way in which the narrator describes his mother is hilarious because it carries out those common stereotypes of Jewish mothers and how overbearing they tend to be. Reading it a second time through, Alex’s mother reminded me a lot of Howard Wolowitz’s mother in Big Bang Theory. I don’t know if you’ve ever watched that show, but Howard’s character in the show is Jewish and his mother is extremely overbearing and is consistently nagging him throughout the show. I find the common Jewish stereotypes depicted in this book really contribute to the story’s humor. I find the nagging nature of Alex’s mother to be hilarious.
However, I wouldn’t necessarily classify Alex to be a “typical” teenage boy. Although I’m sure most, if not all, teenage boys are raging with hormones and are obsessive over the idea of sex, I wouldn’t necessarily go as far to say that they’re as obsessed with sex and masturbation as Alex is. Alex shows obsessive, addict-like behavior when it comes to his masturbatory habits. Although I’m sure most teenage boys masturbate as frequently as possible, I wouldn’t assume that they all go behind dumpsters on the way to school and masturbate quickly before continuing on their way, or masturbating in the bathroom to their sister’s bras after dinner. Now, gentlemen, correct me if I’m wrong, but I wouldn’t classify that as “normal” teenage boy behavior. I think Alex is just “normal” enough to be relatable to the gentlemen readers of Portnoy’s Complaint, but he’s just odd enough to keep things interesting.
I was kind of surprised when I started reading Potnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth. I do not know what I was expecting, but it was not a cursing sex crazed teen. I thought that it was funny and the language used made it more relatable. A lot of the text is inside Alex's mind and it is here that the reader gets all the complaints. It is through this inner dialogue that we as the reader comes to get to know Alex, his situation and family. His relationship with his parents shows that theme, from past stories, of Jewish children having tension with their parents. Early in the book there is even a section on religion where he kind of bashes religion. He says he despises the Jews for " their narrow-mindedness, their self-righteousness, the incredibly bizarre sense that these cave men who are my parents and relatives have somehow gotten of their superiority." The he turns it around and makes very bias observations about the Christians. This shows the humor of the story, the ironic things he thinks, and also shows that even though he may not want to be like his parents he still is anyway. Also he being as concerned about sex and stuff will also be a factor in the conflice between he and his parents. We have seen in previous stories how Jewish parents are more conservative. I think that this story is interesting and that the theme of parents and child tension will be seen in later chapters.
Devin Harkins I was also surprised by how the story started off so vibrant and intense. Since we, the readers were in Alex’s subconscious we were able to hear all of his inappropriate thoughts and feelings. I was also surprised by how he looked at his parents in two very different lights. He looked up to his mother as if she was supernatural or an angel, it was very obvious that he had an endless love for his mother. Alex’s father on the other hand is a very different case; Alex looked down on his father in dislike because the father was always in pain and never felt satisfied. Alex’s mother loved him in return and so did the father although it was clear that Alex and his mother had a stronger relationship. The father looked at Alex as a chance to move up in the world of money. He wanted Alex to become successful and wealthy for the family. Alex felt intense pressure from his father because that is a lot to put on a young boy’s shoulders. It was interesting to read that Alex’s father invited a co-worker to dinner for a ‘real Jewish meal’. Alex said “I don’t think I have ever heard the word “Jewish” spoken so many times in one evening of my life.” I find that interesting because maybe the family isn’t as religious as they lead people on to be. The father was very proud to show his co-worker the ‘real Jewish meal’ but while reading the story it almost felt like a skit, very over the top and not authentic. I also found it interesting that Alex seemed to think that his father was cheating on his mother with his co-worker and Alex was so confused as to why his father brought her to their home. I’m very interested to see what else will unfold throughout the story.
Ginny Renas Unfortunately, on Monday, I still did not have the book. After coming to lecture and listening to our discussion I thought I had a pretty good sense of how I would feel while reading the first sixty pages. However, I had a completely different reaction than some of the other students. Specifically, on the “Whacking Off” section. First of all, I was expecting most of the first sixty pages to be completely disgusting and basically about him masturbating. Personally, I found the section to be hilarious partly because of the depth of the detail and also in its truth. Masturbating is one of those topics that its awkwardness, or lack there of, depends on the level of comfort a person feels individually on the subject. As I read through this section I pictured all of the men reading this to be secretly identifying with some of it and all of the women getting a good laugh knowing this is so relatable to many men. I guess it’s just me considering a lot of our discussion was based on how bad we felt for Alex and that he is plain gross. Nevertheless, the detail and honesty in this section is so strong that you can’t help but see and believe it. Roth writes, “Through a world of matted handkerchiefs and crumpled Kleenex and stained pajamas, I moved my raw and swollen penis, perpetually in dread that my loathsomeness would be discovered by someone stealing upon me just as I was in the frenzy of dropping my load”. I have two brothers and obviously neither one of them came to me saying, “Hey I’m going to go whack off so make sure you don’t walk in”. However, it goes without saying that neither the potential offender nor potentially offended (me) wanted that situation to occur. This section is so powerful because it removes all shame and paints a picture clearer than some of us even want to imagine. Alex’s drive to have sex offers another shameless example. It reads, “I once cored an apple, saw to my astonishment what is looked like, and ran off into the woods to fall upon the orifice of the fruit, pretending that the cool and mealy hole was actually between the legs of that mythical being who always called me Big Boy”. As I cracked up through this entire section all I could think is that this is just a typical teenage boy with a strong and natural urge to lose his virginity. Setting aside personal feelings towards masturbation, I think we can all agree that the detail and honesty of this segment is well written.
After reading the "Whacking Off" section of the piece, all I could think about was how awkward this conversation in class was going to be. Not because the excerpt, in my opinion, was awkward, but because when topics like this arise in classroom settings, people freak out. I give all my respect to Roth for having the guts to create a piece like this and not care about the public's view of it as well as himself. Being the youngest of four girls, I'm not entirely sure what it's like to grow up in a house of teenage boys, but hearing your rendition of it makes me feel pretty lucky. Of course every teenager has hormones, no matter what gender, but Portnoy’s has made me realize that boys are much more aggressive about their needs and desires, even if they hide them better than females do. I mainly chose to respond to your reaction because you actually looked past the sexual, uncomfortable sections of the piece and realized how perfectly Roth has written this. I love how he chooses to take the reader back to when Alex was only four years old, and still shows just how differently he sees every situation. At this point in the piece, it really hit me that Alex has absolutely no control over how he feels towards his mother, masturbation, and life itself. Sure, the story gives you mixed emotions, but I love that it’s a book that makes you open your mind up to these situations.
Chynna Humphrey In reading the first hundred pages of Portnay’s Complaint, I’ve found the story very enticing and way more interesting than any book I’ve been assigned thus far in high school or college. The stream of consciousness point of view makes the story that much more fascinating because the reader can understand and relate to Alex very well. The fact that we can get a direct view into the mind of an adolescent, horny boy is extremely humorous, but at the same time as honest and true as literature can get. That said, I very much agree with what Ginny said. During our class discussion I was extremely uncomfortable talking about such a risqué topic as masturbation, yet in reading these first hundred pages, I couldn’t help but laugh and relate the thoughts going through Alex’s head to every boy that I know. Some people in the class were saying that there’s something wrong with him, but I would have to disagree with that. Maybe because we are not used to such private thoughts being revealed in literature, we tend to confuse character abnormalities with unfamiliar writing techniques. Philip Roth was very bold in writing on a topic that is so foreign and uncomfortable to so many and he does an excellent job of it.
I also began reading this novel under the same assumption as Natalie, another coming to America story, which quickly changed after reading the beginning of the work. The story delves into the mind of a teenager eager to enjoy sexual freedom. We enter his mind, filled with vivid fascinations of exhibitionist lifestyle. Immediately I felt a connection with the story at hand and our last piece, “Murderers.” Like “Murderers” we follow the adventures of a sexually driven teenager. Although in this case, most of the action is created within his own mind. His family life is relative to stories of the past too. In some ways, I see a relation between Pop in “Silver Dish” and the father in Portnoy’s Complaint. Both seem to have no real drive to achieve and place their faith on their sons. Alex yearns to let go from the constraints that hold down a Jewish-American boy, he wants away from the religion, and would rather enjoy life to the fullest. The eroticism, which exists in this work, is unlike anything I have ever read. It clearly evokes the voice of the era in which it was released. The 1960s was a time of sexual revolution, and clearly this revolution is occurring in the mind of Alex. His relationship with his mother is a bit close for comfort and the Oedipus Complex can be seen by their relationship and his views toward his father. I enjoy the way in which the story is portrayed, a boy making confessions about life to his psychologist. I believe there is a deeper meaning behind his need to express his feelings to a therapist. I feel like his mind is overwhelmed by sexual thoughts and this could be due to his lack of activity. He seems to have plenty of time on his hands and shares a lack of motivation like his father. His sister, on the other hand, seems to have no responsibilities and no expectations placed on her. Alex has all the hopes and dreams of the family placed on him and I believe that is his “complaint.” He wants to against the traditional model of the past where religion does not have such a high value and he wants to make his fantasies into a reality. His “dirty” mind surprised me in many cases, to the point where I could not believe the year in which it was written. Roth must have faced plenty of scrutiny for releasing a work that attacked the Jewish framework and depicted such vivid sexual fantasies all while using obscene language. In all, I was thrown off by the novel at first, but have gained an admiration for the author’s ignorance of the social code during that time and the wild mind of Alex.
Within even the first few pages of Philip Roth’s Portnoy’s Complaint, there is so much rich cultural texture of Jewish heritage that really helped to drive home the main themes of the novel, as well as the class. Just like how we have been discussing in most of the other books we have read, Portnoy’s Complaint immediately sheds light on the confining nature of a Jewish family’s struggle to make it in America. This can be seen in the father of the main protagonist, Alex, who is constantly complaining about the problems associated with his job, as well as his health. Roth writes, “As a little boy I sometimes sat in the kitchen and waited with him. But the miracle never came, not at least as we imagined and prayed it would, as a lifting of the sentence, a total deliverance from the plague” (Roth 5). Alex’s father is always having problems with his digestive tract, literally doing whatever he can to rid his body of constant constipation. Through quotes like this, Roth ties together modern struggles with those seen in Jewish heritage. Just as the Jewish people surely prayed for deliverance from Egypt, the father is now praying for a miracle to cure his bowels. Alex also describes how his father struggles to make it in the work place, that although he does an excellent job, people are always ridiculing him and hindering his elevation to a hire job or pay raise. “They laughed at him, down in the slums. They didn’t listen. They heard him knock, and throwing their empties against the door, called out, “Go away, nobody home.”” (Roth 7). At one point Alex states matter of factly that because his father is Jewish, and the company had never had a Jewish manager, of course he will not be promoted. This has been a common theme seen throughout Jewish literature, as Jews always struggle to assimilate in to American culture. Even though his father is doing a great job, American society is not yet at the point where being Jewish is just as common as anything else, where it is readily accepted as an integral and established place in modern society. In the same way that America shuns the Jews, likewise Alex’s family exposes problems of reverse discrimination in the example of Alex’s cousin Harold. Falling in love with a non Jewish girl, Alice, Harold’s family basically runs her off for this sole reason, with his uncle eventually paying her to leave him.
When I first started to read Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth I realize that this story will be taking me on an exciting ride. At first I was a little confuse though. Alex started with putting his mother on a pedal steel – she was super woman, just mythical. Then he goes to tell how she was about to stab him just because he did not want to eat his food. Then back again, to being concern about his bowl movement. So I was not sure what to place her as – a loving good mother or a crazy female who could not handle situations when things did not go her way. But I also think it’s the stress of the father that made her over react. Alex’s father on the other hand is hard working insurance agent with a pay that do not add up and have a hard time using the bathroom. While reading on more I was able to connect his constipation to how he really felt about life – and I think it is said that your emotional state can also affect your bowl movement. But what confused me the most was that I did not realize that Alex was talking to a doctor until the discussion in class, then it all made perfect sense. My next expression was this story is unbelievable but realistic. I did not expect to read about a teenage and his sexual hormone going out of rage. But I have friends and cousins and his behavior is a typical teenage boy behavior. One will not want to be placed in the mind of a teenage boy with raging hormone but those how have read this story have been traumatized to see what goes on in the mind of a teenage boy. But I did not think it was possible to masturbate to that instant in one day. It was terrifying to actually read about Alex’s past as a teenage boy with this sexual frustration. And the expectations that were placed on Alex can be overwhelming for a child to have all that pressure to be the best and bring the family up the ladder. He did not even have the help of his sister who was just average. But this story was okay. Not something I would read twice or for pleasure. I don’t have a problem about the weirdness but it’s not my cup of tea I guess I can say.
I agree with where you noted that the boy shifts back and forth with his feelings about his mother. The Oedipus complex is at play here. He is infatuated with his mother to the point of obsession in my opinion. Then the reality of it is that no kid agrees with what his or her parents have to say, at all times. Every parent has to tell their child to do what they obviously don’t want to do for his or her well being. Roth couldn’t possibly make this character so in love with his mother to the point of complete abnormality. His obsession is a conscious action other boys may have, but his feelings of dislike for his mother when she had to tell him to eat is a perfectly normal child’s reaction. The part where most readers felt uncomfortable was due to how deep Roth allowed us inside this boy’s head. We were able to feel and see every thought and action he felt or carried out. An aspect I noticed that I wanted to blog about was how his father was the typical older Jewish generation that has been portrayed in former stories. The father made comments about not marrying for love or beauty but to marry rich. This drew a parallel for me with the fact the older Jewish generations didn’t marry for love it was more or an arranged marriage in which their parents set up. The parallel reminded me of Leo from “The Magic Barrel” where he broke away from the older generation Jew.
Portnoy’s Complaint is masterfully filled with long sentences; it has a strong stream of consciousness feel. I suppose that this is to mimic the feel of being in a session with a therapist. Roth starts the narrator, Alex, speaking about his life from a very young age, to a psychoanalytic therapist, and given the very strong sexual references, undertone, and the reining Freudian ideals within the story the long sentence structure is adequate to translate Alex’s feeling onto the reader. It is undeniably humorous to hear a grown man talk about penises, and masturbation, pussy, sex, and chocolate pudding getting him “hot”, in retrospect of his childhood because of the ridiculousness and irrational logic he refers to, natural of the ages he is remembering. It is hilarious to picture a little boy thinking his testicle has fallen off due to too much jacking off, or the same causing cancer. However I feel like his constant dissatisfaction with his familial relationships makes the unraveling of the story dragging, and mainly because the therapist he is speaking to does not say a word, so it is just a constant pouring of anger, frustration, sexual frustration, regrets, racist remarks and nothing in present times moves forward much, which in some way creates the anxious curiosity within the reader to find out how this ties into the present tense. Slowly as his current person bleeds through his spiel, and his narcissism become more evident and less “little boy cute”, his character is almost unlikable. It is the deeply rooted, torturing sexual complexes and self confusion that makes the reader feel compassion and have a degree of sympathy for him. The overbearing nature of his parents, even as he is presently an adult is also comical, and reminds me of something that might happen in a sitcom, again very humorous, but makes me wonder what Alex’s “real” issue is; why is he really at the shrink? Clearly he has conflicts with his religion that have persisted since childhood; when he denys his religion at his bar mitzvah, conflicts with the intrusive nature of his parents that he believes is due to their strict adherence to Judaism and the kosher rules, but all this still feels like it is floating up in the air. At this point, as the reader I’m left slightly annoyed with his character and his lack of “balsyness.” I’m waiting for the rant to be over, or for it at least to take a turn of some sort, of any sort.
I must agree with Lucy Macias, in that the text seems to drag on endlessly, along with our poor protagonist traumas from childhood. From thinking he has obtained cancer from too much masturbation to his alienation from relationships and emotional intimacy as an adult, it is evident that he blames his shortcomings along with his accomplishments on his upbringing. At the beginning of the novel, when Alex is sharing his life as a child his tone is mostly comical and sarcastic at most. As he transcends to adulthood though, there is a shift and as an audience member I began to feel nagged by Alex’s views about himself. Instilling in me a sense of pity for the character, almost the same exact pity he attempted to create in his reader about his non-educated father(this is ironic enough since we find out that Alex has graduate top of his law school graduating class eventually). As for his mother, in the beginning, he views her almost god-like stating that she was “too good”. After a while though he surpasses these feelings and views and begins to blame her for his issues, as if she herself (no matter how obvious) can’t see the damage she has done to her own son. After reading the assigned pages from Portney’s Complaint, I am still waiting for something to happen; hopefully this will happen soon as we continue to read. It left me questioning what the true motivation behind his sharing of his own story is. Could it be for the mere reason of sharing it (as Iz from Zygrowsky Tells finds the need to do), or is there a deeper meaning and connection. I am sure that there will be a change of pace and I can’t wait to see where Roth decides to take this.
Honestly I took all my English classes through AP classes in high school so when I get books assigned to me in class I expect boring pretensious books written by some English guy, well let's just say I was shocked to see all this descriptive language of sex and masterbating. At first it was a little shocking but I came to like the vulgar truth of the novel. I found Alex to be relatable in that he wasn't a cookie cutter boy. Phillip Roth dove me right into the thoughts of a teenage boy, and for the most part I wasn't surprised . I have noticed that this book may be ahead of its time because Alex explains so vividly his sexual preferences, and to think of how popular 50 shades is. Also I have to talk about the materbating discussions, when I read books I think of it like meeting a new person, you just want someone to break the ice with something funny, and that is exactly what I got. I found the topic of masterbating funny and it made me want to read more because anyone who can write so freely about a topic that is so usually not spoken or mentioned about is extremely refreshing. Especially with how this book is set in a depressed time and well there was some anti semitism which would lead you to thinking that he wouldn't talk about his sexual compulsions with materbating and his mother, which he put her on a weird pedestal. However it did make Roth's book a shocking delight. I enjoy reading it because as a girl I here about how boys think about sex almost 3 times the amount of girls (or higher) and to see this creates a very funny stereotype. I would definitely not want to be placed in a teenagers boy raging hormonal mind. I also relate to the pressures that Alex is going through, every teenager is forced to grow up but Alex definitely has a hefty chip being placed on his shoulder. It must have been horrible to be a lower class citizen at this time because they were treaties like second class. It became Alex's responsibility to make his family be seen.
I agree with you about the fact that the story seems to pull you in, even though it is talking about things that are normally awkward to talk about. I think, from what I’ve read that most of us really appreciate reading and having a character that is as open and relatable as Alex is because it is a complete 180 from what we are all used to reading. We are all brought up in school reading “safe for school” books and it is nice to finally have a book to read with a little bit of an edge to it. I also agree with you about the fact that every new book is like meeting a new person and I believe that by placing us inside the head of Alex, that Roth is giving us the most open view as to who Alex really is because people can act a certain way on the outside, but unless you know what they are thinking you never really know their true identity. As a guy, I can say that this feeds perfectly into the “guys always have raging hormones” stereotype, but I think that Roth takes that to a whole new level through Alex.
Cristina Vallarino When I began reading Portnoy’s Complaint I had no idea about the content of the book, so when the author start talking about private events in his life and about masturbating it was quite a shock to me. The narrator is telling the story of his life and I will have think that this kind of details will not be important, but he show us that someway they were important in his childhood. He comes from a protective jewish family, his mother is always worrying about every movement he does and he is the boy of the family so his dad is always pushing him to do his best. From background information I have known that in jews the son is always gonna be the favorite of the house, because from their history men have always been the ones that support the family while women stayed at home to clean the house and everything else. I could see that this is a really close minded jewish family, the mother did not wanted him eating anything outside the house because she believed that was unhealthy. The father as well as the uncle were really racist, the father hated christians and was constantly talking to Alex, the narrator, about all the bad stuff that they have done. Also when we are presented with the uncle we see his hatred to everyone that was not a jew and this is why he recommend them to move to Newark were Jews dominated the town and this way they had more control over everything instead of being in North Jersey were they were the minority and anti-semitics were making their lives impossible. The story had a good conversational tone but at the same time in some moments I got quite confused because the narrator continue moving around in time. In one second he was talking about when he was a little kid and how much his mother loved him and care for him and in the next paragraph he will be returning back to his adolescence. It was a little hard to follow the chronological order of the story because it is all mixed up, but I think this is one of the characteristics of the author to be all over the place and try to give us information about everything that had been going on in Alex life, it was a conversation so he will talk about what came to his mind and this would not happen in a chronological way.
This story so far has not been what I expected. I expected to take place in an earlier setting than it does. Beyond that the narrator spent a large amount of time describing his mother and father in the beginning of this novel. This really helped me get a feel for his family, and I felt like I new them more at first than himself. You'd have to be blind to miss how he favors his mother over his father. He describes his father as someone who cannot find success or even produce bowel movements. Then he turns around and makes his mother out the be someone who can do no wrong. I think this story is going to have a lot in common with "Coming to America" in terms of a coming of age theme. The fights that the narrator has with his mother when he is put outside of the apartment shows us that he is a normal teen who is having these regular troubles. His sexual thoughts, however, make him seem a bit un-normal, mainly because of how vividly they are depicted. I wonder if this stems from frustrations that his family places on him. It very evident from reading that they do not expect much from his sister, but seem to demand more than perfection from him. I'm wondering how this type of sexual language was received by people at the time, especially the jewish community that it depicted. I'm sure that there was some controversy around this novel when it first came out.
Like pretty much everyone else, I agree that the Oedipus Complex is a factor for his feelings towards his parents. This may be why he seems to talk down his father as a weaker person. He also seems almost infatuated with his mother. These things are very much inline with the Oedipus Complex. The one thing that is not, however, is that he seems a bit old to have this still occurring in his life. Once again I think this is a result of all the pressure being placed on him to be beyond perfect.
Overall I enjoyed the first part of this read. It is not a boring read for sure, but I'm hoping it moves in a more normal direction. I'm curious to see if the narrator goes on to meet these high expectations and become what his father couldn't. Hopefully we get an answer to this and it's not left open ended.
Portnoy’s Complaint is a very interesting change of pace when compared to the previous short stories we’ve read in class, though there are some similarities in theme and structure.
For one thing, right off the bat the author expands on the idea of storytelling. Similarly to “Zagrowsky Tells” and “I Stand Here Ironing”, Roth makes the main character’s story a monologue recounting the past. The main character, Arthur Portnoy, discusses his past experiences with his counselor in an attempt to understand his present situation. In this case, the storytelling is only benefitting the storyteller. Arthur is not attempting to make himself understood to anyone else, but rather trying to determine a healthy sexual life despite his tumultuous teenage years.
Although there is plenty of material for a potential psychoanalyst, this is the most modern picture of Jewish American life we have seen so far. There are less concerns with assimilation or immigration policies. However, the hope for the next generations’ success in America (the pressure of being the child of an immigrant) is as present here as in the other short stories we have read. The idea of a golden dreamland where opportunities come to those who work hard motivates Arthur’s unfortunate father to continue working at a dead-end job, and the pressure of making this dreamland a reality is placed on Arthur by his mother.
The theme of sexuality is obviously quite an important one in this novel. Roth takes it further than Michael’s “Murderers,” but still speaks with a similar familiarity with the grotesque. It makes me wonder, as a female reader, if these are hyper-real situations or commonplace. In the context of the story, the tone Roth uses is not one of sanctity or beauty or love. Roth’s main character is insatiable and can not figure out why. His father has a similar dissatisfaction with life, which has manifested itself in a physical punishment (just like Zagrowsky warned it would).
Guilt is another conspicuous theme explored in Portnoy’s Complaint. Part of what troubles Arthur in his sexual exploits is the overwhelming guilt associated with healthy sexual acts. Honestly, I did not see his parent’s behavior as THAT strange, or worthy of causing THAT much damage to Arthur’s psyche. Over-bearing parents are not just a “Jewish thing” but even as a child Arthur is deeply disturbed by his mother’s seeming omnipotence and omnipresence and his father’s more subtle manipulation. Why these problems became connected to Arthur’s sexuality is more than just the Oedipus Complex, right?
When first beginning to read this book and it starts of a bit mythical, such as his mom being a superhero, my mind was a bit disappointed because I thought with a hot topic like that in the beginning the book was bound to just go down. So I thought it would be ore of a boring read. It then picks up and I began connecting to the characters and their feelings in situations.
Overall, I have been enjoying the writing and flow of this book! I think this book allows the audience to get a feel for Alex and to understand in a way where he becomes a real person to us. We begin to grow with this character and we are on his side, none the less to say. You see this more and more when he begins to want to branch off from his family and he starts leaving his mother out of activities he is participating in; which she does not seem to happy about.
Alex is a teenage boy who seems to be trying to find his way in life. He grew up during the depression and WW2 and he is Jewish. He is a typical teenage who gets yelled at, rebels off to do his own thing, and just wants to be able to do what he pleases.
The way the author wrote this book almost gets you to favor Alex over the other characters. The author wants you to grow a relationship with the character so you become more attached and into the book, and I very much did. I am now excited to finish the book because I can see it is not a boring pointless read, it has emotions and personality to it.
When I began the task of reading the book Portnoy’s Complaint, it is safe to say that I did not expect what Philip Roth had in store for the reader in the first sixty pages. What interested me most as a reader is the fact that Roth presents Alex with all these perversions that he describes in depth, while no matter how ridiculous they sound, he still makes Alex’s story very relatable to the audience. The topics of losing virginity, sexuality, and masturbation are perpetuated in Roth’s words and the way he presents them some how takes ideas that are usually awkward and sensitive and makes them hilarious, easy to understand, and not as nearly as awkward. In the story, Portnoy saw his mother as almost angel-like in that she could nearly do no wrong and he saw his father in almost an opposite light. Although the protagonist does not particularly look up to his father, they share sort of the same dissatisfaction with their lives.
The parts of the story so far that are most alike to the audience’s probable experiences are the over-bearing parents of Alex, the guilt he feels to do exactly as his parents wish, and his teenage struggle with sexuality. But unlike normal teenage sexuality frustrations, Alex’s seems to be unusually insatiable. That, coupled with the fact that his parents demand amazing success from him while almost nothing at all is expected from his sister, causes Alex’s dissatisfaction with life. Also, the old immigrant way of thinking is gone, now it is just “I need to be a successful Ameican Jew”. It is incredible to me that Roth ties all these themes together in a serious manner while contrucing all the other parts to have the audience absolutely cracking up. I have enjoyed the novel so far and I cannot wait for what is in store.
I found Portnoy’s Complaint to be a more interesting read than many of the other books I’ve read in high school and college simply because I found it somewhat relatable. Alex is like any other person, confused about life and getting into arguments with his parents while trying to establish his own identity. He has the added difficulties of growing up during the Depression and then World War II, as well as being Jewish during a time of extensive anti-Semitism, but he still remains a character that I can connect to. Readers are thrust so far into his mind that it is cringe-worthy at times, but this makes Alex real. Many of us in the audience have gone through some of the same situations, (although I can’t speak for what it is like to be a teenage boy), such as getting yelled at by our parents for something as stupid as eating a hamburger. Alex also is a real character because of his wish to create his own identity, separate from that of his parents, which everyone tries to do about the time they became a teenager. He stops including his mother in all of his activities and starts striking out on his own, something that she is very unhappy about, as any overly involved mother would be. The saddest part of the novel so far I think was the part about Alex’s cousin Harold, or Heshie, and his fiancée Alice. Alice isn’t Jewish, so the entire family opposes their engagement. Eventually Harold’s father tells Alice that Harold has an incurable disease and pays her to leave him. The family thinks that they are helping him, but in reality they are just driving away his one ray of happiness. Soon after, Harold enlists in the Army and is killed in combat. Instead of giving him his time with Alice and what little happiness they would have found, Harold’s family took it upon themselves to meddle in his life and drive her away. Alex’s character confesses his life story to a Doctor, presumably a psychologist, in some sort of effort to understand why he is so messed up. I don’t think he’s messed up though. Yes, Alex is kind of weird and has an odd family, but that’s actually normal. Alex comes off as a normal character to me, except that readers get a very intimate look at his mind, which serves to make him seem abnormal.
ReplyDeleteKendall Torres
I agree with you for the most part Kendall. I believe that Alex is facing many normal problems that entail growing up as a kid trying to find himself. He attempts to branch away from his parents to truly experience life without their influence. He wants to find who he is and establish his identity. I do believe that Alex is more on the normal side of the spectrum but I don’t think he is completely normal. The fact that his intimate thoughts are revealed to us makes him seem a little stranger than he truly is, but I feel that there is some sort of slight disorder or childhood uncomfort afflicting him. He has some sort of reason to be talking to a doctor or psychologist about his life. I feel that he is a little abnormal because of the confusion he faced as a child. We all face confusion but Alex experienced it a little more by the unconditional love his mother showed him then have her threatening him with a kitchen knife just because he didn’t feel hungry after she made him food. All kids face confusion, but I feel Alex’s sampled two opposite sides of a spectrum, feeling his mother’s love, then having his life threatened by her the next minute. His cousin Heshie’s circumstances and story I feel afflicted him in a negative way too. It’s not easy to deal with knowing that you and your families ideas and prejudices were the reason for driving away another family member’s happiness. I don’t see Alex as a true lunatic who needs to be in an asylum, but I see him as a little bit off from normal.
DeleteDesiree Amadeo
DeleteI also agree with Brett's thinking of Alex having a mild abnormality - he's not psycho, but there is something there that's a tad off-kilter. I think the fact that the same images pervade the majority of his bad memories (masturbation, knives, etc) speak to the fact that there is an underlying, universal issue in which all these unfavorable memories take root. The vast array of individual differences within each chapter of his life may be narratively diverse in subject and social context, but each one of them, in some way, relates back to his hate for his father, the love/hate relationship he has with his mother, and his struggle as he grapples to make sense of his inner complexity. Throughout the book thus far, we frequently see that Alex has to manipulate the often adverse consequences of his own actions, the predicaments imposed upon him by others, and the task of understanding the difference between these two - being able to truly differentiate between something that is a direct consequence of a decision he made (i.e. his semen hanging on a lightbulb) and what's simply a painful event he's going through, but has no control over. It seems as though his lack of clarity on which is which - did he unjustly provoke and therefore deserve his mother's murderous threats? or was she just crazy? - leaves him with an unnecessarily large amount of guilt (which we talked about in class) that clearly still plagues him and adds to the issues he's seeing the psychiatrist for.
Kayleigh Koskan
DeleteI agree with a lot of what you are saying. Alex is just trying to find out who he really is as a person as every teenager goes through that. I too think that he is a normal, mediocre kid that just seems to be an odd person because we are reading so far into his thoughts. I mean we all have some pretty crazy thoughts once in a while but, like Alex, we’d never say it out loud. I do however think that a lot of his weirdness is due to his parents. His mom seems extremely up tight. Reading this story I was really annoyed by her. She yells at Alex for the most ridiculous things and I believe she is way too emotional of a person; I feel like she constantly cries over the tiniest things. Alex’s father is very odd himself. He is constantly talking about being constipated as if everyone wants to hear about that. I think he places too much confidence in his son and it is weighing down on Alex. I think the reason he is talking to a doctor, I assume a psychologist, is because he is still afraid of letting his parents down. He is trying to break away from their control on him as well and is confused about how to handle his past with everything that happened. I believe all of this is killing him inside and he needs help figuring himself out.
Alex Dishman
DeleteI agree with what Kayleigh said in that he is talking to a doctor because he is afraid of letting his parents down. I think he is in living in the shadows of trying to be their ideal son and he can’t let himself get away from the idea of not being perfect for them. His father puts a lot of pressure on him by the way he acts and it reflects on the struggle Alex is facing in trying to figure out who he is. Like many teenagers, who constantly face the dilemma of wanting to be there own person but not knowing who that is, Alex is exploring who he is through the story. The way his mother acts molded him as well and contributes a lot to his relationship with her and with himself. I think the way his parents raised him and the way they treat him I also think that he is trying to figure out who he is also. I have to admit that the story is extremely graphic and disgusting and it was disturbing to read. I think the whole constipation thing and the masturbation thing are both gross and too detailed in my opinion. I have to be honest when I say that this is going to be a weird read for me but I am looking forward to finishing it.
Justin Huntman
DeleteI agree with Kendall, this was a very interesting book. As you stated this is because it very relatable to us as young readers. This story was not anything to what I had expected it to been when I picked up the book and started reading it. To be honest it caught me completely off guard. But, so far in what we have read I feel that Alex makes this story so relatable that the story is easy to read and follow what was going on in the story because I feel like I have been in very similar situations. Being Jewish Male I somehow feel like I relate even more. The example Kendal uses about the family not wanting Harold to marry out side the religion is very understandable. I feel with examples like that I can relate even culturally to what is going on there because that is something still popular today. It if felt in Jewish culture especially with Jewish boys that they should be only marry Jewish girls. I can really relate to how the family feels that they are doing the right thing for Harold, because I personally understand where the family it coming from in this example.
I agree with all of you: defenitely an interesting read that captures the attention of the reader. The perversion that is so evident reminded of some scenes from "murderers"; although a lot more enjoyable and easier to follow. I found it most interesting while reading more about the main character and his upbringing. Clearly, with an upbringing like his- one would undergo some psychological issues, which makes the reader want to have a more intimate relationship with the main character, Alex. The struggle Alex faces seems to be, in most part, due to the unhealthy relationship that he has had with his parents. So far, I've been very interested in the book- and it seems that it is dealing with themes of developing self identity, as many of the past reads have dealth with.
DeleteNatalie Palmer
ReplyDeleteI really didn't know what to expect when I started reading Portnoy's Complaint. Before even opening the book, I had expected it to be a "Coming to America" kind of story. We’d read a lot of these in class and I have also read many of them in the past.
Well, obviously I was wrong. The perversions of this book are thoroughly entertaining and hilarious. We get such a vivid description of his fetishes and sexual appetite that it's almost impossible to say that this book was anywhere near my expectations.
Alex is normal by any teenager's standards. Looking into the mind of any teenage boy, we'd probably find very similar perversions. And as Kendall mentioned in the post above mine, it's because we get such a detailed, graphic image of his erotic nature that Alex comes off as abnormal.
I love the integral role his parents play in his life. As we discussed in class, his Oedipus complex is a major part of his character. The image we get of his mother is of a woman who can do no wrong. She is perfect in every light and Alex idolizes her. Alex's father, though, on the other hand, is someone he does not idolize. From the beginning, the first picture we get of his father is where he is on the toilet, constipated. We get a very good picture of his family dynamic.
A lot of expectations are placed on Alex’s shoulders. His father has no real aim to succeed in life, and instead puts all of his effort into hoping Alex will have a profitable future. This kind of pressure on a child is no joke, and I can see how it has only added to his mountain of insecurities as he confesses to his psychologist all of his complaints.
What I found especially interesting were the low expectations given to his sister. It seems as if they expected nothing out of her in the first place, and thusly treated her like she would amount to nothing her entire life. His parents are extremists with their children, treating one like she will never become much of anything, while placing the weight of the world on the other child’s shoulders. I’m wondering where there is any gender-based discrimination against his sister in this case.
All in all, I’m looking forward to this book and what our protagonist will reveal to us next.
Hailey Dolan
DeleteI think everyone can agree that Portnoy’s Complaint is not what we were expecting to read.
I like that Natalie brought the Oedipus Complex in to the light. There are many psychological references within just the first few pages. It is completely natural for a young boy to have this idealistic view of his mother while having a negative view of his father. It is also extremely natural for this to go away while in adolescence. We start to see that the mother becomes less of this ideal superhuman and more of a nagging annoyance allowing the audience to really see inside Alex’s head. We have that direct connection to his thoughts throughout his stream of consciousness.
Something Natalie did not mention that I kept thinking as I read was this stream of consciousness could get a tad confusing at times. Jumping back and forth between memories and the present and different ages could throw off the reader, however, it kept me intrigued at the same time. One minute Alex and his mother are arguing and the next paragraph is about him admiring her stockings as a child. This sudden and constant change keeps the reader on their toes.
Alex’s character being relatable was also something that held my interest. Everyone knows what it’s like to have an overprotective parent or at least argue with one that Alex does with his mother. I’m not sure where this story is going but I am becoming more and more anxious to find out.
Natalie, I think it’s safe to say you aren’t the only one who experienced this particular reaction to Portnoy’s Complaint the first time you read it. I read Portnoy’s Complaint last semester for another lit class, and my reaction was quite similar. I was a bit taken aback by the vulgarity of it all, but thruthfully I found it rather amusing. I think the way in which the narrator describes his mother is hilarious because it carries out those common stereotypes of Jewish mothers and how overbearing they tend to be. Reading it a second time through, Alex’s mother reminded me a lot of Howard Wolowitz’s mother in Big Bang Theory. I don’t know if you’ve ever watched that show, but Howard’s character in the show is Jewish and his mother is extremely overbearing and is consistently nagging him throughout the show. I find the common Jewish stereotypes depicted in this book really contribute to the story’s humor. I find the nagging nature of Alex’s mother to be hilarious.
DeleteHowever, I wouldn’t necessarily classify Alex to be a “typical” teenage boy. Although I’m sure most, if not all, teenage boys are raging with hormones and are obsessive over the idea of sex, I wouldn’t necessarily go as far to say that they’re as obsessed with sex and masturbation as Alex is. Alex shows obsessive, addict-like behavior when it comes to his masturbatory habits. Although I’m sure most teenage boys masturbate as frequently as possible, I wouldn’t assume that they all go behind dumpsters on the way to school and masturbate quickly before continuing on their way, or masturbating in the bathroom to their sister’s bras after dinner. Now, gentlemen, correct me if I’m wrong, but I wouldn’t classify that as “normal” teenage boy behavior. I think Alex is just “normal” enough to be relatable to the gentlemen readers of Portnoy’s Complaint, but he’s just odd enough to keep things interesting.
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ReplyDeleteI was kind of surprised when I started reading Potnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth. I do not know what I was expecting, but it was not a cursing sex crazed teen. I thought that it was funny and the language used made it more relatable. A lot of the text is inside Alex's mind and it is here that the reader gets all the complaints. It is through this inner dialogue that we as the reader comes to get to know Alex, his situation and family. His relationship with his parents shows that theme, from past stories, of Jewish children having tension with their parents. Early in the book there is even a section on religion where he kind of bashes religion. He says he despises the Jews for " their narrow-mindedness, their self-righteousness, the incredibly bizarre sense that these cave men who are my parents and relatives have somehow gotten of their superiority." The he turns it around and makes very bias observations about the Christians. This shows the humor of the story, the ironic things he thinks, and also shows that even though he may not want to be like his parents he still is anyway. Also he being as concerned about sex and stuff will also be a factor in the conflice between he and his parents. We have seen in previous stories how Jewish parents are more conservative. I think that this story is interesting and that the theme of parents and child tension will be seen in later chapters.
ReplyDeleteDevin Harkins
DeleteI was also surprised by how the story started off so vibrant and intense. Since we, the readers were in Alex’s subconscious we were able to hear all of his inappropriate thoughts and feelings. I was also surprised by how he looked at his parents in two very different lights. He looked up to his mother as if she was supernatural or an angel, it was very obvious that he had an endless love for his mother. Alex’s father on the other hand is a very different case; Alex looked down on his father in dislike because the father was always in pain and never felt satisfied. Alex’s mother loved him in return and so did the father although it was clear that Alex and his mother had a stronger relationship. The father looked at Alex as a chance to move up in the world of money. He wanted Alex to become successful and wealthy for the family. Alex felt intense pressure from his father because that is a lot to put on a young boy’s shoulders. It was interesting to read that Alex’s father invited a co-worker to dinner for a ‘real Jewish meal’. Alex said “I don’t think I have ever heard the word “Jewish” spoken so many times in one evening of my life.” I find that interesting because maybe the family isn’t as religious as they lead people on to be. The father was very proud to show his co-worker the ‘real Jewish meal’ but while reading the story it almost felt like a skit, very over the top and not authentic. I also found it interesting that Alex seemed to think that his father was cheating on his mother with his co-worker and Alex was so confused as to why his father brought her to their home. I’m very interested to see what else will unfold throughout the story.
Ginny Renas
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, on Monday, I still did not have the book. After coming to lecture and listening to our discussion I thought I had a pretty good sense of how I would feel while reading the first sixty pages. However, I had a completely different reaction than some of the other students. Specifically, on the “Whacking Off” section. First of all, I was expecting most of the first sixty pages to be completely disgusting and basically about him masturbating. Personally, I found the section to be hilarious partly because of the depth of the detail and also in its truth. Masturbating is one of those topics that its awkwardness, or lack there of, depends on the level of comfort a person feels individually on the subject. As I read through this section I pictured all of the men reading this to be secretly identifying with some of it and all of the women getting a good laugh knowing this is so relatable to many men. I guess it’s just me considering a lot of our discussion was based on how bad we felt for Alex and that he is plain gross. Nevertheless, the detail and honesty in this section is so strong that you can’t help but see and believe it. Roth writes, “Through a world of matted handkerchiefs and crumpled Kleenex and stained pajamas, I moved my raw and swollen penis, perpetually in dread that my loathsomeness would be discovered by someone stealing upon me just as I was in the frenzy of dropping my load”. I have two brothers and obviously neither one of them came to me saying, “Hey I’m going to go whack off so make sure you don’t walk in”. However, it goes without saying that neither the potential offender nor potentially offended (me) wanted that situation to occur. This section is so powerful because it removes all shame and paints a picture clearer than some of us even want to imagine. Alex’s drive to have sex offers another shameless example. It reads, “I once cored an apple, saw to my astonishment what is looked like, and ran off into the woods to fall upon the orifice of the fruit, pretending that the cool and mealy hole was actually between the legs of that mythical being who always called me Big Boy”. As I cracked up through this entire section all I could think is that this is just a typical teenage boy with a strong and natural urge to lose his virginity. Setting aside personal feelings towards masturbation, I think we can all agree that the detail and honesty of this segment is well written.
After reading the "Whacking Off" section of the piece, all I could think about was how awkward this conversation in class was going to be. Not because the excerpt, in my opinion, was awkward, but because when topics like this arise in classroom settings, people freak out. I give all my respect to Roth for having the guts to create a piece like this and not care about the public's view of it as well as himself. Being the youngest of four girls, I'm not entirely sure what it's like to grow up in a house of teenage boys, but hearing your rendition of it makes me feel pretty lucky. Of course every teenager has hormones, no matter what gender, but Portnoy’s has made me realize that boys are much more aggressive about their needs and desires, even if they hide them better than females do. I mainly chose to respond to your reaction because you actually looked past the sexual, uncomfortable sections of the piece and realized how perfectly Roth has written this. I love how he chooses to take the reader back to when Alex was only four years old, and still shows just how differently he sees every situation. At this point in the piece, it really hit me that Alex has absolutely no control over how he feels towards his mother, masturbation, and life itself. Sure, the story gives you mixed emotions, but I love that it’s a book that makes you open your mind up to these situations.
DeleteChynna Humphrey
DeleteIn reading the first hundred pages of Portnay’s Complaint, I’ve found the story very enticing and way more interesting than any book I’ve been assigned thus far in high school or college. The stream of consciousness point of view makes the story that much more fascinating because the reader can understand and relate to Alex very well. The fact that we can get a direct view into the mind of an adolescent, horny boy is extremely humorous, but at the same time as honest and true as literature can get. That said, I very much agree with what Ginny said. During our class discussion I was extremely uncomfortable talking about such a risqué topic as masturbation, yet in reading these first hundred pages, I couldn’t help but laugh and relate the thoughts going through Alex’s head to every boy that I know. Some people in the class were saying that there’s something wrong with him, but I would have to disagree with that. Maybe because we are not used to such private thoughts being revealed in literature, we tend to confuse character abnormalities with unfamiliar writing techniques. Philip Roth was very bold in writing on a topic that is so foreign and uncomfortable to so many and he does an excellent job of it.
I also began reading this novel under the same assumption as Natalie, another coming to America story, which quickly changed after reading the beginning of the work. The story delves into the mind of a teenager eager to enjoy sexual freedom. We enter his mind, filled with vivid fascinations of exhibitionist lifestyle. Immediately I felt a connection with the story at hand and our last piece, “Murderers.” Like “Murderers” we follow the adventures of a sexually driven teenager. Although in this case, most of the action is created within his own mind. His family life is relative to stories of the past too. In some ways, I see a relation between Pop in “Silver Dish” and the father in Portnoy’s Complaint. Both seem to have no real drive to achieve and place their faith on their sons. Alex yearns to let go from the constraints that hold down a Jewish-American boy, he wants away from the religion, and would rather enjoy life to the fullest. The eroticism, which exists in this work, is unlike anything I have ever read. It clearly evokes the voice of the era in which it was released. The 1960s was a time of sexual revolution, and clearly this revolution is occurring in the mind of Alex. His relationship with his mother is a bit close for comfort and the Oedipus Complex can be seen by their relationship and his views toward his father.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy the way in which the story is portrayed, a boy making confessions about life to his psychologist. I believe there is a deeper meaning behind his need to express his feelings to a therapist. I feel like his mind is overwhelmed by sexual thoughts and this could be due to his lack of activity. He seems to have plenty of time on his hands and shares a lack of motivation like his father. His sister, on the other hand, seems to have no responsibilities and no expectations placed on her. Alex has all the hopes and dreams of the family placed on him and I believe that is his “complaint.” He wants to against the traditional model of the past where religion does not have such a high value and he wants to make his fantasies into a reality. His “dirty” mind surprised me in many cases, to the point where I could not believe the year in which it was written. Roth must have faced plenty of scrutiny for releasing a work that attacked the Jewish framework and depicted such vivid sexual fantasies all while using obscene language. In all, I was thrown off by the novel at first, but have gained an admiration for the author’s ignorance of the social code during that time and the wild mind of Alex.
Within even the first few pages of Philip Roth’s Portnoy’s Complaint, there is so much rich cultural texture of Jewish heritage that really helped to drive home the main themes of the novel, as well as the class. Just like how we have been discussing in most of the other books we have read, Portnoy’s Complaint immediately sheds light on the confining nature of a Jewish family’s struggle to make it in America. This can be seen in the father of the main protagonist, Alex, who is constantly complaining about the problems associated with his job, as well as his health. Roth writes, “As a little boy I sometimes sat in the kitchen and waited with him. But the miracle never came, not at least as we imagined and prayed it would, as a lifting of the sentence, a total deliverance from the plague” (Roth 5). Alex’s father is always having problems with his digestive tract, literally doing whatever he can to rid his body of constant constipation. Through quotes like this, Roth ties together modern struggles with those seen in Jewish heritage. Just as the Jewish people surely prayed for deliverance from Egypt, the father is now praying for a miracle to cure his bowels. Alex also describes how his father struggles to make it in the work place, that although he does an excellent job, people are always ridiculing him and hindering his elevation to a hire job or pay raise. “They laughed at him, down in the slums. They didn’t listen. They heard him knock, and throwing their empties against the door, called out, “Go away, nobody home.”” (Roth 7). At one point Alex states matter of factly that because his father is Jewish, and the company had never had a Jewish manager, of course he will not be promoted. This has been a common theme seen throughout Jewish literature, as Jews always struggle to assimilate in to American culture. Even though his father is doing a great job, American society is not yet at the point where being Jewish is just as common as anything else, where it is readily accepted as an integral and established place in modern society. In the same way that America shuns the Jews, likewise Alex’s family exposes problems of reverse discrimination in the example of Alex’s cousin Harold. Falling in love with a non Jewish girl, Alice, Harold’s family basically runs her off for this sole reason, with his uncle eventually paying her to leave him.
ReplyDeleteVanessa Previl
ReplyDeleteWhen I first started to read Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth I realize that this story will be taking me on an exciting ride. At first I was a little confuse though. Alex started with putting his mother on a pedal steel – she was super woman, just mythical. Then he goes to tell how she was about to stab him just because he did not want to eat his food. Then back again, to being concern about his bowl movement. So I was not sure what to place her as – a loving good mother or a crazy female who could not handle situations when things did not go her way. But I also think it’s the stress of the father that made her over react. Alex’s father on the other hand is hard working insurance agent with a pay that do not add up and have a hard time using the bathroom. While reading on more I was able to connect his constipation to how he really felt about life – and I think it is said that your emotional state can also affect your bowl movement. But what confused me the most was that I did not realize that Alex was talking to a doctor until the discussion in class, then it all made perfect sense.
My next expression was this story is unbelievable but realistic. I did not expect to read about a teenage and his sexual hormone going out of rage. But I have friends and cousins and his behavior is a typical teenage boy behavior. One will not want to be placed in the mind of a teenage boy with raging hormone but those how have read this story have been traumatized to see what goes on in the mind of a teenage boy. But I did not think it was possible to masturbate to that instant in one day. It was terrifying to actually read about Alex’s past as a teenage boy with this sexual frustration.
And the expectations that were placed on Alex can be overwhelming for a child to have all that pressure to be the best and bring the family up the ladder. He did not even have the help of his sister who was just average.
But this story was okay. Not something I would read twice or for pleasure. I don’t have a problem about the weirdness but it’s not my cup of tea I guess I can say.
I agree with where you noted that the boy shifts back and forth with his feelings about his mother. The Oedipus complex is at play here. He is infatuated with his mother to the point of obsession in my opinion. Then the reality of it is that no kid agrees with what his or her parents have to say, at all times. Every parent has to tell their child to do what they obviously don’t want to do for his or her well being. Roth couldn’t possibly make this character so in love with his mother to the point of complete abnormality. His obsession is a conscious action other boys may have, but his feelings of dislike for his mother when she had to tell him to eat is a perfectly normal child’s reaction. The part where most readers felt uncomfortable was due to how deep Roth allowed us inside this boy’s head. We were able to feel and see every thought and action he felt or carried out. An aspect I noticed that I wanted to blog about was how his father was the typical older Jewish generation that has been portrayed in former stories. The father made comments about not marrying for love or beauty but to marry rich. This drew a parallel for me with the fact the older Jewish generations didn’t marry for love it was more or an arranged marriage in which their parents set up. The parallel reminded me of Leo from “The Magic Barrel” where he broke away from the older generation Jew.
DeleteLucy Macias
ReplyDeletePortnoy’s Complaint is masterfully filled with long sentences; it has a strong stream of consciousness feel. I suppose that this is to mimic the feel of being in a session with a therapist. Roth starts the narrator, Alex, speaking about his life from a very young age, to a psychoanalytic therapist, and given the very strong sexual references, undertone, and the reining Freudian ideals within the story the long sentence structure is adequate to translate Alex’s feeling onto the reader. It is undeniably humorous to hear a grown man talk about penises, and masturbation, pussy, sex, and chocolate pudding getting him “hot”, in retrospect of his childhood because of the ridiculousness and irrational logic he refers to, natural of the ages he is remembering. It is hilarious to picture a little boy thinking his testicle has fallen off due to too much jacking off, or the same causing cancer. However I feel like his constant dissatisfaction with his familial relationships makes the unraveling of the story dragging, and mainly because the therapist he is speaking to does not say a word, so it is just a constant pouring of anger, frustration, sexual frustration, regrets, racist remarks and nothing in present times moves forward much, which in some way creates the anxious curiosity within the reader to find out how this ties into the present tense. Slowly as his current person bleeds through his spiel, and his narcissism become more evident and less “little boy cute”, his character is almost unlikable. It is the deeply rooted, torturing sexual complexes and self confusion that makes the reader feel compassion and have a degree of sympathy for him. The overbearing nature of his parents, even as he is presently an adult is also comical, and reminds me of something that might happen in a sitcom, again very humorous, but makes me wonder what Alex’s “real” issue is; why is he really at the shrink? Clearly he has conflicts with his religion that have persisted since childhood; when he denys his religion at his bar mitzvah, conflicts with the intrusive nature of his parents that he believes is due to their strict adherence to Judaism and the kosher rules, but all this still feels like it is floating up in the air. At this point, as the reader I’m left slightly annoyed with his character and his lack of “balsyness.” I’m waiting for the rant to be over, or for it at least to take a turn of some sort, of any sort.
Cristina Diaz
DeleteI must agree with Lucy Macias, in that the text seems to drag on endlessly, along with our poor protagonist traumas from childhood. From thinking he has obtained cancer from too much masturbation to his alienation from relationships and emotional intimacy as an adult, it is evident that he blames his shortcomings along with his accomplishments on his upbringing. At the beginning of the novel, when Alex is sharing his life as a child his tone is mostly comical and sarcastic at most. As he transcends to adulthood though, there is a shift and as an audience member I began to feel nagged by Alex’s views about himself. Instilling in me a sense of pity for the character, almost the same exact pity he attempted to create in his reader about his non-educated father(this is ironic enough since we find out that Alex has graduate top of his law school graduating class eventually). As for his mother, in the beginning, he views her almost god-like stating that she was “too good”. After a while though he surpasses these feelings and views and begins to blame her for his issues, as if she herself (no matter how obvious) can’t see the damage she has done to her own son. After reading the assigned pages from Portney’s Complaint, I am still waiting for something to happen; hopefully this will happen soon as we continue to read. It left me questioning what the true motivation behind his sharing of his own story is. Could it be for the mere reason of sharing it (as Iz from Zygrowsky Tells finds the need to do), or is there a deeper meaning and connection. I am sure that there will be a change of pace and I can’t wait to see where Roth decides to take this.
Honestly I took all my English classes through AP classes in high school so when I get books assigned to me in class I expect boring pretensious books written by some English guy, well let's just say I was shocked to see all this descriptive language of sex and masterbating. At first it was a little shocking but I came to like the vulgar truth of the novel. I found Alex to be relatable in that he wasn't a cookie cutter boy. Phillip Roth dove me right into the thoughts of a teenage boy, and for the most part I wasn't surprised . I have noticed that this book may be ahead of its time because Alex explains so vividly his sexual preferences, and to think of how popular 50 shades is. Also I have to talk about the materbating discussions, when I read books I think of it like meeting a new person, you just want someone to break the ice with something funny, and that is exactly what I got. I found the topic of masterbating funny and it made me want to read more because anyone who can write so freely about a topic that is so usually not spoken or mentioned about is extremely refreshing. Especially with how this book is set in a depressed time and well there was some anti semitism which would lead you to thinking that he wouldn't talk about his sexual compulsions with materbating and his mother, which he put her on a weird pedestal. However it did make Roth's book a shocking delight. I enjoy reading it because as a girl I here about how boys think about sex almost 3 times the amount of girls (or higher) and to see this creates a very funny stereotype. I would definitely not want to be placed in a teenagers boy raging hormonal mind.
ReplyDeleteI also relate to the pressures that Alex is going through, every teenager is forced to grow up but Alex definitely has a hefty chip being placed on his shoulder. It must have been horrible to be a lower class citizen at this time because they were treaties like second class. It became Alex's responsibility to make his family be seen.
I agree with you about the fact that the story seems to pull you in, even though it is talking about things that are normally awkward to talk about. I think, from what I’ve read that most of us really appreciate reading and having a character that is as open and relatable as Alex is because it is a complete 180 from what we are all used to reading. We are all brought up in school reading “safe for school” books and it is nice to finally have a book to read with a little bit of an edge to it. I also agree with you about the fact that every new book is like meeting a new person and I believe that by placing us inside the head of Alex, that Roth is giving us the most open view as to who Alex really is because people can act a certain way on the outside, but unless you know what they are thinking you never really know their true identity. As a guy, I can say that this feeds perfectly into the “guys always have raging hormones” stereotype, but I think that Roth takes that to a whole new level through Alex.
DeleteCristina Vallarino
ReplyDeleteWhen I began reading Portnoy’s Complaint I had no idea about the content of the book, so when the author start talking about private events in his life and about masturbating it was quite a shock to me. The narrator is telling the story of his life and I will have think that this kind of details will not be important, but he show us that someway they were important in his childhood. He comes from a protective jewish family, his mother is always worrying about every movement he does and he is the boy of the family so his dad is always pushing him to do his best. From background information I have known that in jews the son is always gonna be the favorite of the house, because from their history men have always been the ones that support the family while women stayed at home to clean the house and everything else.
I could see that this is a really close minded jewish family, the mother did not wanted him eating anything outside the house because she believed that was unhealthy. The father as well as the uncle were really racist, the father hated christians and was constantly talking to Alex, the narrator, about all the bad stuff that they have done. Also when we are presented with the uncle we see his hatred to everyone that was not a jew and this is why he recommend them to move to Newark were Jews dominated the town and this way they had more control over everything instead of being in North Jersey were they were the minority and anti-semitics were making their lives impossible.
The story had a good conversational tone but at the same time in some moments I got quite confused because the narrator continue moving around in time. In one second he was talking about when he was a little kid and how much his mother loved him and care for him and in the next paragraph he will be returning back to his adolescence. It was a little hard to follow the chronological order of the story because it is all mixed up, but I think this is one of the characteristics of the author to be all over the place and try to give us information about everything that had been going on in Alex life, it was a conversation so he will talk about what came to his mind and this would not happen in a chronological way.
This story so far has not been what I expected. I expected to take place in an earlier setting than it does. Beyond that the narrator spent a large amount of time describing his mother and father in the beginning of this novel. This really helped me get a feel for his family, and I felt like I new them more at first than himself. You'd have to be blind to miss how he favors his mother over his father. He describes his father as someone who cannot find success or even produce bowel movements. Then he turns around and makes his mother out the be someone who can do no wrong. I think this story is going to have a lot in common with "Coming to America" in terms of a coming of age theme. The fights that the narrator has with his mother when he is put outside of the apartment shows us that he is a normal teen who is having these regular troubles. His sexual thoughts, however, make him seem a bit un-normal, mainly because of how vividly they are depicted. I wonder if this stems from frustrations that his family places on him. It very evident from reading that they do not expect much from his sister, but seem to demand more than perfection from him. I'm wondering how this type of sexual language was received by people at the time, especially the jewish community that it depicted. I'm sure that there was some controversy around this novel when it first came out.
ReplyDeleteLike pretty much everyone else, I agree that the Oedipus Complex is a factor for his feelings towards his parents. This may be why he seems to talk down his father as a weaker person. He also seems almost infatuated with his mother. These things are very much inline with the Oedipus Complex. The one thing that is not, however, is that he seems a bit old to have this still occurring in his life. Once again I think this is a result of all the pressure being placed on him to be beyond perfect.
Overall I enjoyed the first part of this read. It is not a boring read for sure, but I'm hoping it moves in a more normal direction. I'm curious to see if the narrator goes on to meet these high expectations and become what his father couldn't. Hopefully we get an answer to this and it's not left open ended.
Isabel Willetts
ReplyDeletePortnoy’s Complaint is a very interesting change of pace when compared to the previous short stories we’ve read in class, though there are some similarities in theme and structure.
For one thing, right off the bat the author expands on the idea of storytelling. Similarly to “Zagrowsky Tells” and “I Stand Here Ironing”, Roth makes the main character’s story a monologue recounting the past. The main character, Arthur Portnoy, discusses his past experiences with his counselor in an attempt to understand his present situation. In this case, the storytelling is only benefitting the storyteller. Arthur is not attempting to make himself understood to anyone else, but rather trying to determine a healthy sexual life despite his tumultuous teenage years.
Although there is plenty of material for a potential psychoanalyst, this is the most modern picture of Jewish American life we have seen so far. There are less concerns with assimilation or immigration policies. However, the hope for the next generations’ success in America (the pressure of being the child of an immigrant) is as present here as in the other short stories we have read. The idea of a golden dreamland where opportunities come to those who work hard motivates Arthur’s unfortunate father to continue working at a dead-end job, and the pressure of making this dreamland a reality is placed on Arthur by his mother.
The theme of sexuality is obviously quite an important one in this novel. Roth takes it further than Michael’s “Murderers,” but still speaks with a similar familiarity with the grotesque. It makes me wonder, as a female reader, if these are hyper-real situations or commonplace. In the context of the story, the tone Roth uses is not one of sanctity or beauty or love. Roth’s main character is insatiable and can not figure out why. His father has a similar dissatisfaction with life, which has manifested itself in a physical punishment (just like Zagrowsky warned it would).
Guilt is another conspicuous theme explored in Portnoy’s Complaint. Part of what troubles Arthur in his sexual exploits is the overwhelming guilt associated with healthy sexual acts. Honestly, I did not see his parent’s behavior as THAT strange, or worthy of causing THAT much damage to Arthur’s psyche. Over-bearing parents are not just a “Jewish thing” but even as a child Arthur is deeply disturbed by his mother’s seeming omnipotence and omnipresence and his father’s more subtle manipulation. Why these problems became connected to Arthur’s sexuality is more than just the Oedipus Complex, right?
Stephanie Smith
ReplyDeleteWhen first beginning to read this book and it starts of a bit mythical, such as his mom being a superhero, my mind was a bit disappointed because I thought with a hot topic like that in the beginning the book was bound to just go down. So I thought it would be ore of a boring read. It then picks up and I began connecting to the characters and their feelings in situations.
Overall, I have been enjoying the writing and flow of this book! I think this book allows the audience to get a feel for Alex and to understand in a way where he becomes a real person to us. We begin to grow with this character and we are on his side, none the less to say. You see this more and more when he begins to want to branch off from his family and he starts leaving his mother out of activities he is participating in; which she does not seem to happy about.
Alex is a teenage boy who seems to be trying to find his way in life. He grew up during the depression and WW2 and he is Jewish. He is a typical teenage who gets yelled at, rebels off to do his own thing, and just wants to be able to do what he pleases.
The way the author wrote this book almost gets you to favor Alex over the other characters. The author wants you to grow a relationship with the character so you become more attached and into the book, and I very much did. I am now excited to finish the book because I can see it is not a boring pointless read, it has emotions and personality to it.
Ryan Myers
ReplyDeleteWhen I began the task of reading the book Portnoy’s Complaint, it is safe to say that I did not expect what Philip Roth had in store for the reader in the first sixty pages. What interested me most as a reader is the fact that Roth presents Alex with all these perversions that he describes in depth, while no matter how ridiculous they sound, he still makes Alex’s story very relatable to the audience. The topics of losing virginity, sexuality, and masturbation are perpetuated in Roth’s words and the way he presents them some how takes ideas that are usually awkward and sensitive and makes them hilarious, easy to understand, and not as nearly as awkward. In the story, Portnoy saw his mother as almost angel-like in that she could nearly do no wrong and he saw his father in almost an opposite light. Although the protagonist does not particularly look up to his father, they share sort of the same dissatisfaction with their lives.
The parts of the story so far that are most alike to the audience’s probable experiences are the over-bearing parents of Alex, the guilt he feels to do exactly as his parents wish, and his teenage struggle with sexuality. But unlike normal teenage sexuality frustrations, Alex’s seems to be unusually insatiable. That, coupled with the fact that his parents demand amazing success from him while almost nothing at all is expected from his sister, causes Alex’s dissatisfaction with life. Also, the old immigrant way of thinking is gone, now it is just “I need to be a successful Ameican Jew”. It is incredible to me that Roth ties all these themes together in a serious manner while contrucing all the other parts to have the audience absolutely cracking up. I have enjoyed the novel so far and I cannot wait for what is in store.