Brenda Patimkin

Character Analysis

Brenda is our ultracompetitive, very beautiful leading lady. She's attending Radcliffe University in Boston but is back in Short Hills, New Jersey for the summer. Her field of study is never mentioned and we only see her from Neil's point of view, so our analysis is limited to what we can infer from Neil's descriptions. Luckily, he gives us lots of interesting material to work with.

Brenda and Neil

"I feel… pursued," she said after a moment.

"You invited me, Brenda."

It's doubtful that Brenda would have asked Neil to hold her glasses if she hadn't found him attractive. Seriously, who would ever ask an ugly person to hold their glasses? (We're kidding, of course.) She might not have expected his rapid-fire response, but, as Neil points out, she is as much in pursuit as he is. It could be that this idea makes her nervous, and so she lets Neil do all the hard work.

At first, Brenda's beauty seems to give her the most power in the relationship. Pretty soon, though, Neil takes control by constantly accusing her of not liking him because he's poorer than her. Charming. We see her grow more and more eager to prove this is not the case. Eventually, she's so eager to prove her love that she gets a diaphragm against her will. It seems like Brenda's power steadily weakens as she struggles to satisfy Neil's insatiable insecurity.

At the same time, Brenda probably is guilty of perpetuating the insecurity by trying to turn him into a proper husband for her. It's important to remember that her family is putting lots of pressure on her to get married. She might not have acted the same way toward Neil without the pressure. Anyhow, on the first day of the grapefruit-and-running regimen Brenda imposes, she tells Neil:

You know, […] you look just like me. Except bigger. (5.122)

Neil thinks this means she was trying to make him over in her own image, to make him "fit" into her world. Since we don't see inside her head, it's difficult to tell if that's what she means or not, though we suspect there's something to it.

She loves him for who he is, but also wants him to be part of her life. Brenda never expresses interest in seeing how he lives when he's not with her. For example, she doesn't come visit him at the library or express interest in meeting Aunt Gladys. In all fairness, though, he doesn't ask her to do any of these things. Is he ashamed, perhaps? Whatever the case, it seems like neither of them are able to totally bridge the two worlds.

Brenda and Her Mother

"I can't even think of her as my mother. She hates me." (2.151)

It's clear that Brenda and her mother have serious issues. Brenda thinks this is because her mother is "jealous" (2.153). Neil had already observed something of their tension at dinner:

She gave me the feeling of some captive beauty […] who has been tamed and made the servant to the king's daughter—who was Brenda. (2.74)

Brenda's father does dote on her to the extreme, so there is probably some truth to this. As Mrs. Patimkin's "Character" page suggests, Brenda's lack of interest in Judaism and her taking for granted of money are bigger bones of contention. Brenda's mother also thinks her daughter is really lazy because she doesn't work or do chores.

In Brenda's defense, she does go to school, gets good grades, and stays out of trouble. She might not do housework, but she isn't lazy. In fact, in terms of sports and fitness she seems positively driven. But her mother has reached the point where she can only see Brenda in the negative, though it's a mystery how Brenda and her mother's relationship has gotten so bad.

Brenda and Her Father

Brenda's father seems to be a positive force in Brenda's life. He is very concerned that her needs are met and he doesn't judge her harshly. Still, one could argue that by giving her whatever she wants, he makes it harder for her to be independent. He also may cause her to overvalue money and social status. His doting on Brenda seems to cause much of the tension between Brenda and Mrs. Patimkin. The film version takes that possibility and runs with it, even adding a scene where Mr. and Mrs. Patimkin argue about Brenda while they are in bed.

Reasons for the tension aside, Ben Patimkin acts as Brenda's buffer from her mother. This might be a lifesaving balm to Brenda, or it could be something that keeps her from resolving things with mom. Given our limited information, it's hard to know. But one thing is clear: Brenda and her father share a deep bond. 

Brenda's Diaphragm and her Metafictional Moment

"I just know. I read Mary McCarthy."

"That's exactly right. That's just what I'd feel like. Somebody out of her." (6.103-6.104)

Author Mary McCarthy's story "Dottie Makes an Honest Woman of Herself" (1954) is considered to be the first story to feature a diaphragm. By inserting McCarthy into Brenda and Neil's diaphragm discourse, Roth is paying homage to his forebears. Brenda's comment becomes really cute. It's as if she's saying "I'm not a Mary McCarthy character! I'm a Philip Roth character!" When a story begins to seem less like real life and more like a bunch of books talking to each other, we call it metafiction.

But what we really want to talk about here is the diaphragm. Neil accuses Brenda of not wanting one because she doesn't really like him, or because she thinks he's beneath her. To us it seems obvious that she's uncomfortable with it because a) it's not strictly legal for her to have one as an unmarried woman, b) because she'll have to be fitted for it by a doctor, and this idea isn't pleasant, c) because she knows that her parents would disapprove, and d) because she doesn't want to be seen as a feminist. Ironically, neither did McCarthy.

This is helpful in understanding the general milieu involving sex and sexuality in the US in the late 1950s. Roth is toying with the idea of "a woman's right to chose." On the one hand, we have Brenda being possibly denied the right to choose a contraceptive device because she's unmarried. On the other hand, Neil is trying to deny her the right to choose not to use the birth control by turning it into a "if you love me you'll do it" ultimatum.

Roth has just a bit more fun when he has Neil equate Brenda's buying of the diaphragm with marriage. Roth is also reaching for maximum complexity, and getting readers to see it from a female perspective by making Neil oblivious to Brenda's feelings on the matter.

As noted in Neil's "Character" section, he accuses Brenda of trying to sabotage the relationship by purposely leaving the diaphragm for her mother to find. This might be true, but we think it's more likely that she left it behind because she still doesn't like it. It may remind her of being forced to do something she didn't want to do in the name of love. Could Brenda and Neil have handled the matter in a more constructive way? If so, what are some possibilities?