Summer Reading

For my summer reading book I selected Philip Roth's "The Plot Against America." I found this book to very intriguing as it tells the tale of an alternate history in an anti-Semitic America. The style of writing and character choice by Roth added a very unique perspective to the novel. Roth’s selection of a 7-year-old Jewish Philip Roth in an American nation that has just signed a pact with Nazi Germany adds quite the twist to the novel. His inclusion of himself as a character in the novel gave the altered illusion of American history a genuine feeling because its almost as if Roth is telling you the tale of his very own childhood. The opening line of the novel, “Fear presides over these memories, a perpetual fear,” calls the story “memories” as if this is indeed a factual novel. I was quite fascinated by how real and true Philip Roth tried to make this false history appear with his selection of a child narrator living in a Jewish home.
The alternate history of America was a very interesting part of the novel and it made it more interesting for me. I enjoy when films or novels change history because it adds mystery and suspense to a story the reader already knows. It’s like watching a movie you’ve seen before but this time around it has a much different ending. When history is changed it creates a relearning process for the reader and it is as if they must learn what the novel’s history is, recognize how it differs from actual history, and adjust to it accordingly. In “The Plot Against America” President Roosevelt is beat in a very significant election by Republican candidate and American hero Charles Lindbergh. Under Lindbergh, America immediately halts any actions towards going to war in Europe and fighting the “Jewish War” and instead turns to leading the nation in an effort to “Americanize” the country’s Jewish population. Jews are moved under the act of “Homestead 42” and America becomes a virtual copy of Nazi Germany with its persecution of the Jews. Roth’s altered history quickly makes this novel a frightening idea for the reader to process and forces them to think of a negative history that potentially could have happened. In the novel, Lindbergh’s pact, or “Iceland Understanding,” with Hitler changes the fate of America and many in the country now fear a similar fate of those in Germany. Roth makes this novel seem more realistic by altering details from actual history. For example, when young Philip sneaks into a newsreel theater instead of seeing updates of Americans fighting in World War II-as one would expect a newsreel theater during this era to be showing-he sees film of President Lindbergh hosting the German foreign minister in the white house. These events in the novel are where the reader’s knowledge of history conflict with the history occurring in the novel. I like reading about these changes in history and observing how it differs from actual history. I believe that Philip Roth’s alternate history of Jewish life in America during the World War II era makes this story very unique and gives the reader a much different way of viewing history with a “what if?” attitude. (541)