Authority in Portnoys Complaint by Philip Roth Essay

Aristotle said, We are what we repeatedly do. In the case of Alexander Portnoy he was doomed to repeat his mistakes and continue to feel the guilt lain upon him at every turn by his parents, his lovers and himself. Their overpowering nature kept him a perpetual child and his efforts to seize the opportunity to be the authority in each relationship left him more frustrated and eager to control the downward spiral he called life. At the base of his family was Judaism. Their identity was firmly rooted in their religion. To Alex all he saw when he looked in the mirror or at other kids, at the furniture in peoples homes, the way they spoke, was Jewish and not Jewish. His facial features and his name became sources of†¦show more content†¦This confusion led to fear that if his mother found anything slightly out of the ordinary she would throw him out of the house, no longer calling Alex her son. Secrecy veiled most of his adolescence because he didnt have the courage to be himself in front of his mother. Parental styles are also the basis for the childs self-perception. Parents with a high-controlling and low-responsive pattern are labeled authoritarian. The Portnoys offered little feedback as to why they were disappointed in him, leaving Alex more confused when he was relentlessly punished for letting down his mother. He recognized the severity of his mothers expectations for him. He had overheard her tell her friends that he is suddenly such a bad eater I have to stand over him with a knife. Such an extreme statement justified Alexs decision to keep normal adolescent milestones, like his fondness for masturbation, away from his mothers judgment. This added to his shame and he continued to hide his new obsession, making his mother more suspicious. With little understanding of a childs mind, she unwittingly turned Alex into her greatest nemesis, constantly battling for control in what could have been a stable relationship. While his mother laid the groundwork for Alexs dysfunction, his father provided a look at the life he did not want. He saw that