The climax of Roth's novella
Goodbye Columbus occurs when Brenda invites Neil to Boston to
celebrate the Jewish holiday of atonement, Rosh Hashanah, also the Jewish New Year.
Brenda and Neil had been having intimate relations while he was visiting her parents
home as a house guest over the summer. After Brenda and Neil check into a Boston hotel
as Mr. and Mrs. Klugman, Brenda breaks the news to Neil that her mother had discovered
her contraceptive and was deeply shocked. Brenda shows him two letters she has received,
one from each parent, and tells him that she won't see him anymore. She tells him that
she is ashamed to face her parents and will find it unbearable to continue to see him,
especially since they have lost all esteem for Neil through this shocking
discovery.
This event marks the
climax, the point at which the final outcome of the story is set in
motion. It is an emotional moment yet the emotion is more of personal suffering than
overt, tearing emotion. Moreover it is the decisive moment when the conflict is resolved
and the future predicted: the class divide has not been permanently breached and Neil
and Brenda will not be a couple. As a result, Neil returns to the working-class area of
Newark, New Jersey, and to his job at the public library, symbolic of his common roots.
The falling action occurs when Neil wanders hopelessly
around Harvard yard, catches his train, returns to Newark and gets there just in time to
get to work at the library.
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