47 pages • 1 hour read
Philip RothPortnoy's Complaint
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1969A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Essay Topics
How does Alex’s Jewish identity develop over the course of the novel? How does it become such an obsession?
In what ways does the symbolic meaning of genitalia change or evolve over the course of the novel?
Who has the bigger influence on the development of Alex’s anxieties: his mother or his father?
Why does Alex date so many gentile women? How does his obsession with gentile women tie into his feelings about his Jewish identity?
Why does Alex obsess over his nose?
The trip to Israel is an important moment in Alex’s life. What does the trip teach him about himself?
Many of Alex’s romantic partners are given trite nicknames. What is the function of these nicknames for Alex?
The novel is structured like a therapy session, in which Alex tells his worst and most embarrassing memories to a therapist. How does this structure alter the perception of Alex as a narrator?
Alex regards The Monkey as someone who has already engaged in depraved sexual behavior with her ex-husband. How does his opinion of her affect the way he treats her?
The final line of the novel is framed as a punchline to a joke. In what ways, however, does Dr. Spielvogel’s suggestion that he and Alex finally begin provide optimism for Alex’s future?
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