Authority in Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth Essay

He was often punished when his brothers weren 't, even if they were doing the same thing. He was able to be adventurous but instead was stuck with guilt. Throughout his years he also faced the emotional toll of abuse in many ways. One way his mother did this was by no longer calling him by his name, and not referring to him as a human. Dave states in his book, “that death would be better than my prospects for any kind of happiness. I was nothing but an “it”.” Children and adolescents go through a stage where they are trying to figure out who they are. With an abusive mother who takes away your identity it would be really hard to figure out who you are and you would be confused on what roles to play. Erikson’s stages emphasize family and culture. Erikson noted that psychological conflicts, especially in childhood within families, affect people lifelong.

         What is interesting is how later in the novel, Alex happens upon Alexander's home again, forgetting exactly why it seems so familiar.  Alexander gets his revenge on the poor Alex, who opens up to the horrors he suffered in prison, unknowingly telling Alexander ways to harm him.  Alexander represents Burgess' desire for vengeance; Burgess is able to take out his anger on Alex, a murdering rapist.

His anger toward his own son seems to be why he feels as he does. His son, who was beaten by his father when he was young, knocked his father down as a teenager. Then he ran away from home and has not seen his father since.

In this stage the child learns to feel comfortable with parents and trusts their care or develops a deep mistrust that makes them feel unsafe. Although Aileen’s mother did not leave her until age 3 she neglected them at a very young age and Aileen did not have a father to nurture her either.

When he fell in love I believe that the father was conflicted with chasing his dreams or staying and living the dream his beloved had envisioned. At the time he might have felt like he was making the decision that he wanted but as the years went by he regretted his choice but chose to continue living his life never fully being who he really wanted to be.

Conflict was used effectively in the short story to reveal the theme of the story. The boy has an internal conflict about which parent to stay with, and because his father left, he seemed to have favored him. He wanted him back so badly that every night, he watches him on the six o’clock news while wearing his old jackets. He was blinded by his father’s sudden departure that he forgot about what is really important. Additionally, another development in the short story’s conflict has been used effectively to reveal the theme. When the boy went to Macdonald’s to see his father’s true colors, he thought: “I finished my drink quickly, thankful that he had to be back in the studio for the news.” By the time he saw his dad for the first time in a while, he knew he was not the man he thought he was. At that moment, he also realized that he lost sight of what he had all this time: His mother’s unconditional love. If it wasn’t for the characterization of

Alex’s decision to not talk to his sister before leaving must have been hard, the

Bragg’s grandfather learned to find out the young man ways “he lived long enough to see the true nature of his son-in-law’s character emerge, saw the cruelty, and his first inclination was to hunt him down and kill him” (35). Bragg’s mother felt that her husband would change for the better the more chances she gave him. Every time Bragg’s father would come back for his wife he would leave her in the end without any money and to expect another child on the way (66). Bragg’s mother and the children knew that the father could become dangerous at any time “he would strike out at whoever was near, but again it always seemed that she was between him and us, absorbing his cruelty, accepting it” (66). Bragg knew that his mother was not trying to bring the family in harm, only his mother wanted the family life and for her boys to grow up with a father.

Alex’s dad was a police officer. He was on the seen when a man came up and shoot him in the back of his head. He fell to the ground lifeless. Alex’s dad was one of the biggest role models in Alex’s life. Now Alex had no father in his life and he missed his dad a lot .

This is represented and forcing all of the ideas of his mother and family out and he wants to forget the mishaps that they encounter.

The readers will now clearly see through his “secret hate,” even if there is no evidence that the boy himself has realised consciously that it is directed towards his father. Defeated and in anguish he returns to his nightmares. This time round the dreams become more definitive. The father appears, conducting the dance of death and actually directing the monsters that haunt him. This shows that his subliminal self has learned, to some extent, the cause of his pain, even if he is still hasn’t managed to consciously comprehend the events.

out of that environment, effectively changing him as a person. “I knew my mother was

At first, I had absolutely no idea the Alex was nervous until I reread and scrutinized the chapter, I found serval places where he showed signs of nervousness and depression. The first time he showed nervousness, was when he kept thinking of all the possibilities that could go wrong. Of all people, I think that I would be the master at knowing nervousness. For example: At the end year of the 2014-2015 school year, we were assigned workbook pages worth a test grade. For everybody else this wasn’t a huge deal, but it was for me. I had an eighty in the class and my test average was high. That meant, anything below a ninety-five, would cause me to fail. If I failed, I wouldn’t be allowed to come back to Davidson! Since it was assigned, I couldn’t do anything but think of the worst possibilities, just like Alex. Just like Alex screwed up by blowing his cover, I screwed up by not answering a question, but just like he covered it up, I did too. Except I got caught and received a ninety-nine. Luckily, Alex hasn’t gotten caught and I hope he

hostile environment his father sought to escape. His mother betrayed him as she never embraced

But he has learned more, a lot about his father. Like his life story, medals that he received, marriage, and how he got accepted into the criminal organization known as Scorpia. Even the most tragic, how his father died. He once thought, Mrs.Jones the operator of the MI6, was his friend. But he learned that it was Mrs.Jones who gave the orders to kill Alex’s father. The person who tells him this is the leader of Scorpia. So why Alex needs a backup is because he doesn't have a father or a relative that has been in the spy field, so he can’t take advice from anyone. Also he is only a teenager, a kid. So he doesn't have as much experience as if an adult would be doing the work. So because Alex’s dad is passed away, he doesn't have anyone to take advice from, so that's why he needs a