Philip Roth

As the Potemkin family goes into a frenzy preparing for Ron's wedding (another aspect that dates this novella - no family of this stature prepares a wedding on such short notice) and Brenda increasingly confused - she's a total daddy's girl w a strong competitive relation to mom - emulates her yet is her greatest rival - and as wedding approaches she feels increasingly displaced - she's as much an outsider in the fam as Neil is - and that may b why she is so flagrantly provocative. Two things happen: n asks her to get a diaphragm and she gets insulted and refuses. Why? Does she have a sense that if she does so she will be committing To Neil? And stepping further away from her father? We don't really know what they think of n tho we have the sense that they see him as beneath Brenda in status. 2nd thing: b tries to find $300 (a lot the) hat dad had hidden away for her - their secret pact - and when she can't find it she again feels the alliance w dad is breaking apart. She flings herself at n but we sense this is not about him but about her provocation of her family - trying to reclaim her stature as the reigning princess.

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