Summary Of Goodbye Columbus By Neil Klugman

In Goodbye, Columbus, the protagonist, Neil Klugman, struggles to develop and preserve an identity of his inner self as well as his Jewish identity. Throughout the story he attempts to find a role for himself in society that seems fitting. Jewish identity, and the battle in understanding and preserving its values, is represented in Goodbye, Columbus and the additional five short stories as well. Neil shares struggles with Ozzie from “The Conversion of The Jews” because they both have troubles in understanding and identifying with Jewish faith, and also with Cadet Sheldon in “Defender of the Faith” because they both experience life from two different perspectives and try to find their true selves within them. These struggles are part of

Ozzie learned that the Jews do not believe Jesus can be the Son of God. He then replies, “Yet he created everything and could make all that in six days, and pick the six days he wanted right out of nowhere, why couldn’t he let a woman have a baby without intercourse.”(p. 141). After an argument with Rabbi Binder upon this matter, Ozzie later runs up to the roof of the synagogue and threatens to jump. The rabbi and his students, joined by Ozzie’s mother, go outside to convince him not to jump. Ozzie warns that he will carry out his threat unless everyone goes down on their knees like Christians, and admit that God can make a virgin birth and that they believe in Jesus Christ. Whereas Neil goes into a nearby church and his first thought after entering is whether he looks like a Catholic (p. 79) and if he is different from them at all. Neil and Ozzie’s thoughts about God are an expression of a genuine desire for insight and self-knowledge, which is often the case when someone questions God. Young individuals should be free to question what they are learning about with no judgment. Both Ozizie and Neil question their beliefs because their doubts about it are not confronted, leaving them lost and

Both young men immerse themselves into lifestyles contrary to the style that they where raised. Neil is exposed to Brenda’s rich and bountiful way of living where money is not an issue. Neil struggled with understanding how individuals could be so frivolous with money, wasting it on cosmetic surgeries, and lavish events. Neil tries to define his own identity in relation to these two extremes. Cadet Grossbart, however, comes from a first generation Jewish immigrant family whose parents do not speak English and have strong religious values and traditions, yet he tries to assimilate to American ways when drafted by the military. Even though Sheldon was not truly honest about his religious values and used them to manipulate his superiors, it was understood because he was faced with this unfamiliar way of life, causing him to lash out. From being a young man whose parents loved and took care of him in a place he knew was safe, to tedious war training where each day fear grew stronger. When Neil and Sheldon face these new changes they both experienced culture