Philip Roth

Probably the greatest scene in Goodbye, Columbus is Ron and Harriet's wedding in which Roth tells the whole story by focusing on the bit players ie the members of the potimkin family in particular mr p's half brother a struggling willy Loman type who spends several pages unloading his miseries to Neil. Probably a unique example in lit in which a character is so dull as to be extremely interesting. He gives us a sense of how everyone else views the potimkins - and we see through him a vision of how Neil would be seen if he were to marry into the family - a lucky intruder. The scene is a comic your de force and amazingly includes no account of the ceremony or celebration - just the characters and their monologues (to Neil). Despite the greatness of the scene I think roth missed the opportunity to develop me p's relation to his daughter and thru her to Neil. Roth would have it that mr p pays little or no attention to Neil but I think he would pay a great deal of attention to him and make it clear what a "catch" Brenda is or else try to drive him away from his precious daughter.

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