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......
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Approximate Word Count: 1209
Approximate Pages: 5 (260 words per double-spaced page) |