Goodbye Columbus

How do class and status generate conflict across the stories in this collection? What forms does status take? How does the drive to achieve and maintain social status interact with the pressure to assimilate and the desire to maintain cultural traditions?

How does Roth use clothing as a symbol of identity, belonging, and exclusion? What kinds of uniforms exist in the collection, and what purposes do they serve?

How does the inversion of roles between Ozzie and Rabbi Binder in “The Conversion of the Jews” raise questions about authority and about how knowledge is validated? How is the rabbi’s loss of authority part of Ozzie’s coming-of-age process?