Nemesis - Chapter 2, Spoilers Allowed (March 2013)

[Daniel]

First of all, for the sake of those discussing the book as they read, I would ask that everyone save discussion of the final pages of this chapter until the next section. Everything else up to that point is fair game in this thread.

Bucky acts completely out of character in accepting the camp position. Did you feel there was sufficient motivation behind the move? Was it believable, given what we know of Bucky?

Bucky quickly realizes his mistake in quitting his old job, but the closing of the playground gives him no chance to redeem himself. Would you agree that his previously unimpeachable code of honour is what allowed him to distance himself from his father's sins, or to compensate for his dismissal from the draft? Is this inability to reconcile his error now a fatal flaw in his moral armour?

[Jane from B.C.]

Please consider there are spoilers below through chapter/part 2!

I have finished the book but I wanted to hone in on something that occurred in chapter/part 2. Roth goes into lengthy detailed description of "Indian Night" and the "Council Ring" where the boys dressed in 'red-face' and gathered around a ceremonially lit campfire. The whole thing is so politically incorrect now, but the way Roth relayed this event sounded so fun and idyllic somehow. Then in the next part (six days later) the reader gets the 'punch to the gut' when Donald falling ill - idyll camp life is shattered.

What struck me is the connection to the manner in which the American Indians fell victim to the small pox virus after European contact. Was this the parallel that Roth was trying to draw with the careful description of "Indian Night" followed by Donald falling ill? Was Bucky the visitor who brought the pestilence? Or was Roth simply trying to impart idyllic camp life before everything went to hell?

[Daniel]

What a fantastic point! I stopped at the idyllic notion of the innocent but politically incorrect past, which I still thinks serves well at face value. Bringing in the notion of smallpox introduced to American Indians really works at a substratum level, though. It's one of those teasing metaphors that doesn't necessarily line up on the surface, but holds an undeniable and powerful connection to something deeper. Thanks so much for sharing that!

[Thing Two]

I've seen Roth's book compared to The Plague by Albert Camus, which I have not read, but believe to be set in Algeria.

[Casceil]

I've though a lot about Jane from BC's comment on "Indian Night" and Bucky as the visitor who brought the pestilence. The more I think about it, the more sure I am that Roth was making a deliberate comparison. I totally missed it, reading the book, but I am so glad someone caught it, because it really improves my appreciation for the book.