Defender of the Faith

Philip Roth has written many stories throughout his lifetime. “Defender of the Faith” is a short story that was published in his first collection entitled Goodbye, Columbus which also included four other short stories and a novella. To understand Roth’s writing one must first look at his life and where he got his general ideas from. In many of Roth’s stories he encompasses parts of his life that he has dealt with such as being a Jewish American.

In “Defender of the Faith” we watch a Sergeant in the United States Army come back from fighting in World War II and come to terms with his Jewish faith and what it truly means to him by reconnecting with a part of his heart he hasn’t been able to use for a long time. The story is written in first person allowing us to follow Sergeant Marx’s true perspective and feelings on what he is going through in the story. The main characters in this story also include Sheldon Grossbart, Michael Halpren, and Larry Fishbein, three Jewish trainees trying to deal with the difficulties of basic training and also those of being true and faithful Jewish men. Roth joined the army in 1955, just ten years after the end of World War II, so through these men’s difficulties you can see what Roth himself probably went through during training. Roth brings himself and his family alive through the characters and happenings of the story. The men tell of how their parents are very concerned and overprotective of their sons. In a biography of Roth’s life by Lee Hermoine it discuses how he had a “over-possessive mother who, like most Jewish mother’s only wanted the best for her son.” This theme is conveyed throughout the book.

Roth characterizes Sergeant Marx as a man who mostly has been in the army for too long and has lost the warmness in his heart only because he’s had no other choice so that he could deal with the things the army brings with enlisting in it. It is said in Hermiones biography of Roth that he seems to have a “less loving view of the lives of Jews.” This could be why we see that Marx has forgotten some of his faith and has gotten over things such as eating kosher for the right to serve in the army. We watch the changes in Marx’s character and personality as he gets to know the three privates who remind him of the things he use to believe in. Marx even returns for Friday night services after the men come to him about going. Marx transforms himself throughout the story into a man who truly remembers who he is and who he was before he came into the army.

Throughout the story we see the relationship between Sergeant Marx and Private Grossbart form and change over time. At first Sergeant Marx questions Grossbart, wondering why he and the others believe they should get special privileges just because they are Jewish. Marx allows the men to see that he went through everything that they are going through and he made it just fine. The men allow Marx to see that all they want to do is stay faithful to their religion and be true Jewish men. Eating kosher, attending services, Passover dinner, these are all things that are special and important to them and they help the Sergeant to remember how important they are to him also. During the story though we see how Private Grossbart takes advantage of Marx’s kindness when he and the others are allowed to leave for the night to go to a special dinner his aunt supposedly cooked for them but returns back with only a bag of Chinese food. This shows how Roth possibly felt about the world at that time and how dishonest people can truly be. Roth shows Grossbart as a conniving person who takes advantage of anyone who has ever helped him with anything. In the end we see that Grossbart truly gets his when he tries to get his orders changed so he can stay stateside while the rest of the trainees were getting shipped over to the Pacific. Marx finds out and intervenes so that Grossbart gets orders to go overseas with the rest of the group. Roth allows us to see that