58 pages • 1 hour read
Goodbye Columbus
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Symbols & Motifs
The Diaphragm
In “Goodbye, Columbus,” Neil pressures Brenda to get a diaphragm to bring them closer together and increase his pleasure while they have sex. She is at first resistant but eventually follows his wishes and goes to the doctor for one. The diaphragm is a symbol for their union as a couple and for Neil’s need to tie her more closely to him. He is consistently insecure about their relationship and scared that she will leave him, and he hopes that the diaphragm will unite them, though he is unsure if the diaphragm will accomplish what he wants: “Now the doctor is about to wed Brenda to me, and I am not entirely certain this is all for the best. What is it I love, Lord? Why have I chosen? Who is Brenda?” (100). Neil is so preoccupied with solidifying his relationship through the diaphragm that he wonders if he is even making the right move or if he even wants to be with Brenda. He believes that by using a diaphragm, their relationship will be elevated, almost as if they are married. He sees it as a way forward and to bring them closer, and yet it is also the object that results in their relationship’s collapse. When Brenda leaves the diaphragm at home when she returns to college, her mother finds it, and the fallout leads to a big fight between Brenda and Neil. Neil blames Brenda, and to her shock, he believes that she orchestrated its discovery: “‘It’s you who’s confusing things,’ Brenda said. ‘You act as though I wanted her to find it.’ I didn’t answer. ‘Do you believe that?’ she said, after neither of us had spoken for a full minute” (131). Neil is insecure about her commitment to him throughout the entire story, and his belief that the diaphragm unites them makes its discovery all the more painful for him. The fact that she did not take it with her and, in his view, did so to have it discovered signifies that she was never truly committed to him. He believes she left it to spark their breakup, and the diaphragm, a symbol of their unity, being abandoned proves to him that she does not view their commitment as strongly as he does.
The Eggroll
First sergeant Nathan Marx does his best to build a relationship and trust with Sheldon Grossbart in “Defender of the Faith” but is ultimately disappointed by an eggroll. Grossbart convinces Marx to write him a pass so he can visit his aunt for Passover seder, and Marx requests some gefilte fish in return. When Grossbart returns with an eggroll in hand and an admission that he never saw his aunt, Marx realizes his trust has been betrayed. The eggroll is a symbol that represents Marx’s crumbling faith in Grossbart. When Grossbart first gives Marx the eggroll, he accepts it with disbelief: “‘Egg roll?’ I accepted the bag and felt a damp grease spot on the bottom. I opened it, sure that Grossbart was joking” (195). Marx’s shock at the eggroll, and its underwhelming appearance in a greasy bag, show that Marx was finally beginning to trust Grossbart and find kinship with him. The eggroll is a massive disappointment, as the gefilte fish request represented not only faith in Grossbart but also Marx beginning to reconnect with his Jewish faith after the war. Marx’s faith continues to crumble to nothing as the two argue, and when Grossbart leaves, Marx rages: “I couldn’t stop the fury. It engulfed me, owned me, till it seemed I could only rid myself of it with tears or an act of violence. I snatched from the bed the bag Grossbart had given me and, with all my strength, threw it out the window” (196-97). Grossbart’s final betrayal angers Marx so much that it begins to consume him, and to address it, Marx throws the eggroll out the window. By doing so, he also forsakes any trust or kinship he felt with Grossbart. Their relationship, built slowly, is thrown away with the eggroll, and for the rest of the story, Marx avoids Grossbart before betraying him himself.
The Black Suit and Hat
The final story, “Eli, the Fanatic,” features the most striking motif of Roth’s short story collection. The black suit and hat that the man from the yeshivah wears represents the Pressures of Modernity on Tradition and the ways in which that pressure can create pain. Eli consistently tries throughout the story to convince Leo and the man to change, to forsake their traditional clothing and ways in favor of the modernity that will appease the town. Leo, the man, and the children have all survived the Holocaust and are striving to live a free and prosperous new life in Woodenton. When Eli finally succeeds in convincing the man to change by gifting him a suit of his own, the man gives the black suit and the accompanying hat to Eli. Eli tries the hat on and immediately sees a change in himself reflected in the mirror: “He sighed, but could not rid himself of the great weakness that suddenly set on his muscles and joints, beneath the terrible weight of the stranger’s strange hat” (285). Eli begins to feel the weight of the other man’s life. This other man has no family, and through forced sterilization by the Nazis, he cannot have children. Eli, on the other hand, is awaiting the birth of his son and cannot help comparing their fortunes. The longer Eli wears the suit, the more he feels the pressures and pain of the other man. When he goes in the suit and hat to see the man, he finds a connection between them: “Eli had the strange notion that he was two people. Or that he was one person wearing two suits” (289). Eli begins thinking of himself as the man and continues to take on the weight he believes the man carries. He feels his history, and as he walks through town, he feels the eyes that are usually on the man. He begins to understand the pressure the man feels, drawn to him by his suit, not only in town but also in his past in Europe.
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By Philip Roth
