Philip Roth’s novella Goodbye, Columbus was published in 1959. It tells the story of Neil Klugman, a recent college graduate who is working in a library in Newark, New Jersey. He falls in love with Brenda Patimkin, a wealthy Jewish girl from Short Hills, and the two embark on a summer romance. At the heart of the novella is the tension between the two worlds that Neil and Brenda come from. Neil is a working-class Jewish boy from Newark, while Brenda is part of the wealthy Jewish elite of Short Hills. Neil is acutely aware of the differences between their backgrounds, and he struggles to fit in with Brenda’s family and their social circle. Roth explores themes such as social class, assimilation, and cultural identity throughout the novella. He portrays the Patimkin family as shallow and materialistic, and Brenda as conflicted about her identity and her relationship with Neil. Neil,