Between Rising and Passing: Justice Suspended in the Fiction of Philip RothJackie Weisman
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To address the issue of Jewish placement within the American racial representation scheme, Matthew Frye Jacobson starts by rejecting the premise of the question "Are Jews white?," proposing instead that we ask "how have they been both white and Other? What have been the historical terms of their probationary whiteness?" [3] Indeed, the terms of Jewish whiteness have been many, and have been set by Jews and non-Jews alike.
The extent to which the American Jewish community has insisted upon its collective whiteness has largely correlated with how comfortable its constituents felt as Americans at a given historical moment. The mid-nineteenth century, for instance, saw the arrival of immigrant groups previously unfamiliar to Americans of older stock. These Irish, Germans, and Jews, among others, were quickly cast into racial terms, without regard for their self-identification. Jews of the period were less inclined to unite under a racial signifier than non-Jews were to label them in such terms. But other designations were also problematic: though the colonial era was conducive to the idea of separate "nations," the term acquired a separatist political connotation with the Revolution's conferral of equal citizenship rights upon American Jews. Under these circumstances, the "religion" label fell into favor for its capacity to permit Jews, who were still concerned with ingratiating themselves into American society, to moderate the extent of their affiliation to the group, and by extension, leverage a degree of control over this aspect of their identities. Owing in part to Jews' success in demonstrating their Americanness, race soon resumed its status as the classification of choice, but this time, with the Jews' consent. To recast the discussion within a literary framework, it was the Jews' ability to rise economically that, for a time, obviated their need to conceal their Jewishness (i.e. to pass). As Eric Goldstein writes, as early as the late nineteenth century, "Non-Jews frequently spoke in complimentary terms of Jews Ľas a race,' emphasizing their thrift, commercial success, and community-mindedness." [4]
Becoming American: The Meaning and Means
Rising and passing novels tend to concur in their belief that the paragon of the American success story is the white, Protestant, and financially well-off male. Since not every aspect of this theoretical identity is democratically attainable, however, one can reduce the goal in Americanization novels to honestly achieved economic success. Ironically, as the genres' frustrated logic demonstrates, in order to achieve financial success it is often necessary to possess the traits that are unattainable to those born without them.
Numerous American authors including Charles Sheldon, Augusta Jane Evans, and Harold Bell Wright, among others, have formulaically reiterated the ascent theme in literature near the turn of the nineteenth century. The best representations of this undertaking, however, are in Horatio Alger's novels, which number over one hundred and span the years from 1867 to 1899—just prior to the introduction of the passing narrative.
As a rule, Alger's stories feature young white boys who start off poor. They are not overly occupied with religion, though it is occasionally invoked for its contribution to secular values such as honesty and hard work. Ultimately, the characters seek to "grow up 'spectable," as the titular character in Ragged Dick; or, Street Life in New York declares. [5] Alger's characters begin at vastly different starting points than do those portrayed in passing literature, and their conditions require distinct means for achieving their objectives. Instead of having to manipulate and deceive their ways to the top, Alger's characters learn that with the right combination of openness and pluck, "in this free country poverty early in life is no bar to a man's advancement." [6] Consequently, the worthy characters win respectability and material comfort, while the undeserving are deprived of success. The passing genre adopted a similar vision of the type of American most likely to triumph. But lacking the genetic endowments of Alger's boys, passing characters required a different path to achieve pecuniary gain.
The Inevitable Outcome and its Ready Explanation
The content-based similarities between rising and passing novels end with their agreement upon an ideal contender in the quest for Americanization. But the genres also share the structural trait of being highly formulaic; their characters' trajectories are often rigid and predictable. This structural fixity is important because it is a product of the conceptions of right and wrong by which the genres abide. In other words, certain actions are bound to produce the same explicable upshots. In accounting for Roth's need to refigure the mobility genres that precede him, one may view this moral certainty as a source of his disapproval.
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Jackie Weisman is a first-year student at New York University School of Law.