Find the perfect quote to float your boat. Shmoop breaks down key quotations from American Pastoral.
Visions of America Quotes
Where was the Jew in him? You couldn't find it yet you knew it was there. (1.45)
Language and Communication Quotes
"You're Zuckerman? […] The author?" (1.20)
Family Quotes
[…] men for whom the most serious thing in life is to keep going despite everything. And we were their sons. It was our job to love them. (1.12)
Warfare Quotes
He had just finished up his boot training […] when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. (1.17)
Politics Quotes
"Just a liberal sweetheart of a father. […] Brought her up with all the modern ideas of being rational with your children. Everything is permissible." (3.67)
Memory and the Past Quotes
"I figured that of all the forms of bulls***-nostalgia available this was the one least likely to be without unsettling surprises" (3.9)
Appearances Quotes
"Swede Levov! It rhymes with… "The Love"… Swede Levov! It rhymes with… "The Love […]." (1.4)
Guilt and Blame Quotes
No one gets through unmarked by brooding, grief, confusion, and loss. (1.46)
Religion Quotes
And then one day everything Catholic came down off the wall for good. (3.133)
Literature and Writing Quotes
"You're Zuckerman? […] The author?" (1.20)