Goodbye, Columbus journal #2

Contrast

“I was always amazed at how Carlota’s work never seemed to get in the way of her life. She made household chores seem like illustrative gestures of whatever it was she was singing, even, if as now, it was “I Get a Kick out of You” (pg. 77).

This passage is read during Neil’s stay at the Patimkin’s house. Carlota is a servant of some type to the family and the passage depicts Neil’s thoughts on her. When I read this specific passage I thought there was a contrast to how his aunt Gladys conducts her household chores, which would be similar to those Carlota performs in the Patimkin household. Constantly, from both Neil’s thoughts on his aunt, such as hoping she has an empty fridge in death, and through the way aunt Gladys speaks and conducts herself, I was given the impression that she carries herself as almost a martyr; always complaining, but relishing the complaints in a way, wanting those around her to hear how she suffers. Carlota on the other hand, who performs assumedly similar tasks around the house, does so in a joyful manner. Finding ways to make her tasks more enjoyable, such as humming a tune to herself as seen above. I think that this clear contrast between how these two women carry themselves is why Neil expresses his surprise upon viewing Carlota.

Parallel

“Petulantly, Mrs. Patimkin went back to her lists, and I realized it had been foolish of me to risk lightheartedness with her about Jewish affairs” (pg. 87)

Once again, this passage is read during Neil’s stay at the Patimkin’s house. Most of the family is out and it is only Neil and Mrs. Patimkin and they have been engaging in short conversation. Before this exact passage, Neil has been commenting on how he thinks that Mrs. Patimkin is warming up to him and he is trying to continue that by making pleasant conversation until he pokes fun at ‘Jewish affairs’ and realizes that Mrs. Patimkin would not have found that amusing. With such clear socioeconomic differences between the Patimkin family and Neil’s family, I think that this passage highlights a parallel between the two families. At the core, the adults of the families, Mr. and Mrs. Patimkin and Neil’s aunt and uncle, have strong feelings towards their Jewish culture/religion, whereas the younger parties like Neil and Brenda have less care about such things. I think that it is interesting that with such different families there is still this common thread and would expect that this would have been extremely common in most families.