The Counterlife: Analysis of Major Characters
"The Counterlife" explores the complexities of identity, relationships, and the interplay of personal and cultural narratives through its major characters, particularly Nathan Zuckerman and his brother Henry. Nathan, a Jewish writer, grapples with themes of impotence and desire, ultimately navigating an affair with Maria, a married English woman. Their relationship evolves amidst Nathan's struggles with his own Jewish identity and his past marriages. Henry, characterized as a shy dentist, confronts his own identity crisis, experiencing a significant transformation after a heart operation and rediscovering his Jewish roots during a trip to Israel. The narrative also introduces other key figures, including Mordecai Lippman, an extremist with strong views on Jewish identity, and Shuki Elchanan, a friend advocating for peace. The characters' interactions reflect broader societal tensions, particularly regarding anti-Semitism and cultural belonging, inviting readers to consider the impact of personal choices on larger communal identities. As the story unfolds through multiple perspectives, it challenges conventional narratives and highlights the complexity of familial and romantic ties in a changing world.
The Counterlife: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Philip Roth
First published: 1986
Genre: Novel
Locale: New York City, New Jersey, Israel, and London
Plot: Metafiction
Time: 1978
Nathan Zuckerman, a Jewish writer based to some extent on the author. A tall, dark man in his mid-forties, he is the supposed author of the novel as well as a character in it. In the second of five chapters, he goes to Israel at the request of Carol, Henry's wife, who wants Nathan to convince Henry to return home. In chapter 4, he is impotent as a result of cardiac drugs, the same condition ascribed to Henry in chapter 1. The events of chapter 4 are background to earlier chapters. In chapter 4, Nathan meets Maria, who moves into his building with her husband and small daughter, Phoebe. Soon, they are engaged in an affair of sorts, with him giving her sexual satisfaction. He says that he wants to have a child with her, and she says that he desires this only because it is impossible. He turned down the chance to have children with his three former wives, all shiksas, like Maria. In this version of events, he has a coronary bypass operation and dies, like Henry did in chapter 1. In the concluding chapter, he is married to Maria, who is pregnant with his child; it is not clear whether he ever was impotent or had the operation. He has just returned from seeing Henry in Israel. He says that he married Maria because he wanted to break away from his old life and his own examination of it. After arguing with Maria about anti-Semitism and Jewish identity, he realizes that living in England with her has made him more of a Jew.
Henry Zuckerman, Nathan's thirty-nine-year-old brother, a dentist. He is tall, with an athletic physique, and has dark good looks but is shy. The first chapter describes him as being impotent as a side effect of drugs he takes for a coronary condition. Years earlier, he had a brief affair with a woman named Maria, who returned to her home in Switzerland. He decides to have a coronary bypass operation so that he can stop taking the drugs and resume a sexual relationship with Wendy, his dental assistant. He dies during the operation. In chapter 2, Henry survives the operation and goes to Israel because he now feels his Jewish identity and believes that his life in New Jersey smothered it. He calls himself Hanoch and has become a follower of Mordecai Lippman, an Israeli extremist. In later chapters, Henry denies the events of chapter 1, and in chapter 4, it is Nathan who has the operation and dies. In that version of the story, Nathan has written a draft of the novel in which they are all characters. Henry finds the novel after Nathan's death, and he destroys part of it as well as pages out of Nathan's private journal so that no one will suspect him of being an adulterer.
Maria, a tall, charming, twenty-seven-year-old English-woman. In chapter 4, she meets Nathan in New York City and they have an affair while she is married to the political aide to the British ambassador at the United Nations. Nathan dies in that chapter, and she goes to his apartment one last time. She reads the final chapter of his novel in progress (Henry already having destroyed some earlier chapters). She claims that he distorted all the characters except her daughter, Phoebe. Maria leaves the book intact, even though she is identifiable in it and it mentions their affair. She detests the women in history who destroyed great writers' letters and memoirs, and she thinks that the book perhaps will be her salvation by leading to a divorce. In the final chapter, she has been married to Nathan for four months, and she is pregnant with his child. They have moved to England because Maria's former husband threatened to sue for custody of his daughter, Phoebe, if he was not allowed to exercise visitation rights conveniently. Maria and Nathan fight after Nathan meets her family and discovers its members' anti-Semitism. They argue about English anti-Semitism in general and Jews' need to keep proclaiming their identity. She writes a note to Nathan saying that she is leaving him and his book, explicitly recognizing herself as a character in the book and criticizing him for killing both his brother and himself.
Mordecai Lippman, an ardent Israeli settler. He has wide-set eyes and a smashed nose, and his leg was mangled in the 1967 Six-Day War. He has white hair even though he is not much older than fifty. Lippman hates Shuki Elchanan for pandering to the ideas of Westerners and believes that Jews should never give ground. He thinks there will be a purging of Jews in America.
Shuki Elchanan, a friend of Nathan. They met on Nathan's previous trip to Israel, in 1960. Shuki lost his hearing in one ear and sight in one eye during the Yom Kippur War. Shuki wants Israel to sign a peace treaty with the Arabs and believes that Mordecai Lippman is a gangster. Knowing that Nathan uses his own life and experiences as material for books, he warns Nathan not to become wrapped up in Lippman's comic possibilities and write about him, because that would help Lippman spread his ideas.
Jimmy Ben-Joseph, a tall, young Israeli who dreams of being a baseball player. He meets Nathan in Israel, at the Wailing Wall, and follows Nathan onto the plane as Nathan leaves the country. He tells Nathan that he intends to hijack the plane and shows him a note demanding closure of Jerusalem's Holocaust memorial; he believes that Jews need to live for the present. After admitting that his hijacking story was a joke and stating admiration of Nathan for standing up to him, he shows a grenade. Security officers attack and beat him, as well as detaining Nathan as a suspected accomplice.