Spirit of Washington
July 5, 2005
The recent novel by Philip Roth, The Plot Against America, tells an alternate version of American history. He imagines a nation in which Charles Lindburgh, with his Fascist leanings, wins a victory over Roosevelt in the 1940 presidential election. Lindburgh's Spirit of St. Louis hangs proudly in the entrance to the National Air and Space Museum, its name blazoned on its golden nose, and I recalled the novel..
The second chapter takes place in Washington. The Jewish family from New Jersey takes a trip to their nation’s capital, coming even though they share deep fears about the direction of their country under the newly elected Lindburgh. While in Washington they hire a guide to show them around, seeing the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial.. All the while the father speaks his mind to his family about politics and American history. In the Lincoln Memorial occurs the first of a series of minor, but telling, anti-Semitic incidents. Some woman mutters that he is a “loud-mouthed Jew.” Then in a cafeteria the father gets into an altercation with a man who overhears his anti-Lindburgh pronouncements. Finally the family walks into a hotel and is told that they cannot stay there.. even though they had a reservation.. obviously the result of discrimination.
The novel was a delicate operation. Perhaps the most important trap to be sidestepped was the temptation to portray an America that nobody would recognize.. America was never going to be a Nazi haven.. nor were its citizens ever infected with the same virile anti-Semitism as found in Germany or other countries in Europe. An America that was suddenly filled with hateful people would have been hollow.. an alternative reality that was not really an alternative. What Roth portrays, rather, is an America that is willing to listen to the soothing lines of a Nazi-sympathizer.. an America where a few people are emboldened to call someone a “loud-mouthed Jew” under the cover of their patriotism. Roth shows how a handful of people can change the climate of a nation, and that muttered words are enough to make a family live in fear.
Roth’s novel resists direct application. It is not a shot fired in warning of growing anti-Semitism. One can say many things about the current national drift, but it would be hard to make that charge. Nor has Roth taken contemporary political hot buttons and read them back into the America of the Forties.. Even applying labels like liberal and conservative to his characters seems off-point and anachronistic. Instead of serving up easy lessons, the novel sets out to dramatize the way subtle changes in the political tone can tear a family apart, and the way patriotic language can provide a cover for prejudice.
The father in Roth's novel embraces the vision offered by Lincoln and America’s founders, and takes his family with pride to the Lincoln Memorial. But it is here, in the Lincoln Memorial, that we hear the woman mutter her put-down. And the young boy who is narrating the story long afterwards recalls a dream in which his stamps that featured American landmarks were engraved with a Nazi swastika. It is a reminder that these are symbols of freedom, but that they can quickly become co-opted.
I walked to the Washington Monument and looked out at the Lincoln Memorial, nervously watching the dark clouds approach. To the north I could see the White House, partially hidden by trees. A small group of what I took to be Mennonites were visiting at the same time, the women of the group wearing white bonnets and simple uniformly cut dresses. They could have been the family that Roth describes visiting Washington.. undoubtedly feeling very different in the middle of mainstream American culture. And it was only a few nights ago that Emily and I sat near two women on the metro, one white short-haired girl from Alabama talked to her black trans-gendered friend about working for NARAL, a pro-choice organization, and what bars she she goes to at night. Our monuments are still a symbol for what is open and accepting for all people.. even those who are different.
