nor the concerted ambition to lift
himself out of it. Despite his pro–
testations of maturity, he remains an
uneasy child in his aunt's home,
railing impotently at his parents
("those penniless deserters" ) for
being poor and for abandoning him
- at the tender age of 23. He lives
unbelievingly in a drab world, but
compensates for it by romanticizing
the worlds to which he does not be–
long. That's why his picture of the
Patimkin menage is exaggerated
and over-simplified. He is no more
willing to admit of -the tensions,
dissatisfactions and failures in the
Patimkin family than the little
Negro boy is willing to admit that
the Gauguin paintings aren't photo–
graphs.
However, Neil's observations are
sufficiently extensive and detailed so
that we, the readers,
can
see what is
155
really going on, if we care
to
take
the trouble. What, for instance,
could be more pathetically absurd
than Big Ron at the head of Patim–
kin Kitchen and Bathroom Sinks?
That business has meant a great
many things to Patirnkin Senior : it
is his baby, as he might put it, his
artifact, the vehicle and achieve–
ment of all his energy and ambi–
tions; the road he built to carry him
out of the slums; above all, and
most J ewishly, his great gift to his
children. But to Ron it is merely
his father's business, without possess–
ing any of the dignity of a family
tradition, and with no inherent in–
terest of its own. A business, inci–
dentally, which his father's love and
largesse have rendered him colossal–
ly ill-equipped to handle. Of course
Ron should have been a gym teach–
er. But the business was destined for
THE SCHOOL OF LETTERS
Indiana University-Summer 1961
Courses on the graduate level in the theory a nd practice of
Literary Criticism
Including work t oward advanced degrees in
Criticism, English Literature, and
Comparative Lit erature
SENIOR FELLOWS
J ,ohn Crowe Ransom
Austin Warren
Lionel Trilling
Philip Rahv
Allen Tate
Address Inquiries to
The School of Letters, Ballantine Hall
India na University, Bloomington, Indiana
