Part 1
The Plot Against America is a great novel that exemplifies throughout Roth’s desire to be an antidote to consensus. The fact that the novel in itself is a historical fiction is an antidote not only to consensus, but myth as well. The plot of the story is a drastic contrast to how we as Americans want to view our country today. We view our country as ‘the land of the free and the home of the brave’, and do all we can to fight for other’s freedom as well. Roth portrayed the United States as a prison for the Jews, with their rights as Americans being snatched from them by Charles Lindbergh. A specific example of this contrast to the consensus is how the media and the majority of the nation are blindsighted by Lindbergh, and think that he’s just what the nation needs to keep them out of war and do whats right for them, however the Roth family and some of the other Jewish families still believe that he’s a liar and is out to get the Jews. The consensus belief is that Lindbergh is awesome, but the Roth’s disagree with this. Another good example to me is Alvin, and how he went off to Canada to fight. He was going against the doxa because all of America wanted to stay out of the war and away from the controversy. Instead of going along with the consensus actions of America, he gave up his right as an American of staying out of the war and went to Canada so that he could fight against Hitler, and in an indirect way fight Lindbergh and all that he stood for.
Chapters 8 and 9 were a defining point in the novel for me. To this point, Roth had intertwined what the media and the Nation believed along with how the Roth family was reacting, but in chapters 8 and 9 he separated the two. This was a very great way to grab the attention of the readers. He begins in chapter 8 with giving the reports of what was going on through the newsreel theaters. This was a very one sided view, and was strictly the facts, or what they chose to portray as facts. In reality, a lot of what was happening seemed to be very far fetched and possibly made up. In Chapter 9 however, Roth let us into see how all that was going on was affecting their family. An example that really struct me was in chapter 8 how they talked about the riots in Louisville and how there were 122 Jews killed, and then in chapter 9 they told that one of those killed was Selma Wishnow. This was a tragic event in the Roth’s lives, but we wouldn’t know that just by reading chapter 8.
Part 2
Roth’s technique that stood out the most to me was the way he mixed history and literature, specifically with chapters 8 and 9. The way he told the news in one chapter and personal accounts in the next was a very good way to draw the readers attention. By putting his own personal experience in the novel, it adds a bit of emotion and draws emotion from the readers. By doing this, he also prevented homogenization because he let the readers know that what we read in the previous chapter about the majority of America and their feelings towards the events weren’t shared by his family.
