Chapter+9

Chapter 9- Summarized and Analyzed by Bryan Heltemes and Matt Zuber

Perpetual Fear- October 1942

Chapter 9 Summary- Chapter 9 starts out with a phone call from Seldon Wishnow in Kentucky. He is calling the Roths, concerned that his mother wasn’t home or hasn’t called. This is taking place during the riots that followed the claims that Lindbergh’s disappearance was plotted by himself and the Germans. Seldon is worried about this lack of contact with his mother, and fears that she is dead. Mrs. Roth attempts to calm Seldon, and displays extreme perseverance when dealing with Seldon’s frantic mood. She takes control of the situation by calling the Mawhinneys, the family that Sandy stayed with during his stint in the Just Folks program. She requests they pick up Seldon in order to keep him safe until Mr. Roth would come for him, if Seldon’s mother really was dead. By this point, we as readers have discovered that rioters have killed Mrs. Wishnow. A few days later Seldon arrives back on Summit Avenue with Mr. Roth and Sandy, with full knowledge that his mother is dead. Philip then realizes that Mrs. Wishnow’s death is indirectly his fault. He remembers that his attempt to convince Aunt Evelyn to let the Roths stay in New Jersey sparked the relocation of the Wishnows. Just days before the return of Seldon, Aunt Evelyn had called the Roths notifying them of the arrest of her husband, Rabbi Bengelsdorf. Soon after, Evelyn shows up at their house, pleading that they hide her. She claims that “they” are after her, because she knows the truth about Lindbergh’s plot. This truth that she claims to know, which was revealed in Chapter 8, deals with the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby having fueled the President’s anti-Semitic feelings. However, Mrs. Roth does not grant her wish and welcome her into their home, and instead slams the door in her face. This action leads Mrs. Roth to tears of frustration. At this point Philip experiences a realization that even his mother, who displayed extreme perseverance and ability to adjust to disconcerting situations, could not always deal with the negative and unexpected changes in life. Due to the day's unexpected events, emergency meetings were called at local, Jewish schools. Philip's mother goes to attend the meeting and due to the lack of communication with his father, Philip is separated from his parents for a short time while he is left with the Cucuzzas. While spending his time with Joey, Philip realizes that the cops and their horses outside with their heroic figures are really the only things that are keeping him calm. When Philip is still with Joey, he lets him hear through his ear piece and tells him the story of how he obtained it from a criminal. RIght after the story, Joey cranks up the earpiece and annoys Philip to the point where he realizes that Joey is just like Seldon in that he was always a problem. While Philip then contemplates the thought of running away from the Cucuzzas, Joey tells another story about Jews drinking horse blood, which represents the stereotypical attitude of the region during this time. Joey then deserts Philip in a room by himself and doesn't return, which earns a beating from his father when he returns from work the next morning. During the time that Joey disappears from sight of Philip, Philip starts to think about running away again and decides he needs a long range plan. He decides he wants to run away to the pretzel factory and go under the fake name of "Philip Flanagan". When he goes to the cellar, however, he runs into his Aunt Evelyn, who is hiding from "the people looking for her". When Philip brought Evelyn back upstairs, he realized that she was extremely paranoid. When his mother finally got home, she informs Philip that he won't be going to school the next day because of a possible war with Canada. Philip feared that the U.S. had finally entered the worldwide war on the wrong side and that America would eventually end up in shambles. That night his mother got home, she found Aunt Evelyn in the cellar and brought her into their apartment to keep her from doing anything stupid. Herman and Sandy finally return from their trip with Seldon, but not before seeing the worst parts of America and what it transformed to. The chapter ends with the realization from Philip that he was the prosthesis for Seldon, the stump.

Chapter 9 Analysis- The first several pages of Chapter 9 deal with Seldon’s frantic phone call. The narrator explains the ways in which his mother handles the conflict and manages Seldon’s nerves. Instead of moving forward in time, as the previous chapters had, the author remains in the same month that Chapter 8 took place in. The author actually backtracks the story in order to create a separation between the national scene and the plot development in the Roth household. The previous chapter, Bad Days, focuses almost entirely on the national issues that played out toward the end of Lindbergh’s presidency. This chapter, Perpetual Fear, instead focuses directly on the Roths and other surrounding characters. The author replays national events and provides their impact on the story’s characters. For example, while readers knew that there had been rioting across America following the claim that Lindbergh had disappeared with help from the Germans, it was not known that this rioting directly affected the characters through the death of Seldon’s mother. In the beginning section of the chapter, the narrator gives his insight and opinion of his mother’s action. He feels that she is displaying amazing perseverance and patience while dealing with Seldon, and the chance that his mother might actually be dead. Instead of keeping readers in the dark, the author reveals to us that Mrs. Wishnow actually is dead. By letting readers in on this secret, the author shows the importance that this situation bears. After the main character has learned of Mrs. Wishnow’s death, he reveals to readers the guilt he feels because of the fact that it is indirectly his fault. While also giving the interpretation of other characters’ actions and feelings, the author is also giving us insight to the main character. After providing us the main character’s realization that his actions have consequences, the author creates more conflict in the form of Aunt Evelyn’s appearance at the Roth home. The fact that Mrs. Roth denies her own sister entrance to their home shows that she still cares the most about her sons. This greatly contrasts the beginning of the chapter, where she sent her husband and eldest son on a several-day trip in order to rescue Seldon from Kentucky. After this character vs. character conflict, the author transitions back to the main character’s interpretation of his mother’s feelings. Instead of now showing strong character, this time around Mrs. Roth breaks down crying and is unable to adjust to the attacking conflicts. This is where the author addresses the “unruly flux” that has been present, and significantly affected the Roths, throughout the entire story. By explaining the fact that even Mrs. Roth has the inability to adjust to the negative impacts of national matters, readers discover that the narrator is experiencing powerful realizations, turning him into more of a dynamic character. When Philip is separated from his parents during the time of the emergency meetings, the author points out that his greatest fear was being alone during this time. He shows the vulnerability of Philip and his youth. Another thing that also helped keep Philip calm was the fact that there were uniformed police men with large horses patroling the area. Although unknown as whether or not they would've helped, these cops and their horses represented a safety blanket for Philip because they made him feel less solitary. Also infatuated by the horses, Joey stays with Philip during the time his mother and father are gone and tells him the horrific story of the Jews who drink blood. When Joey says "Jews drink blood," this line represents the view that most Americans had of Jews at the time; filthy barbarians who were primitive troublemakers. Another representative figure in this chapter is Aunt Evelyn. Her spontaneous paranoia represents the lack of control of the whole situation and the unexpected events that were happening. The final important piece of the book is the last paragraph when Philip describes the fact that he is the prosthesis for Seldon. The author put this in their to show that during the rough times, troubled figures need someone to lean on and in his case, Seldon leaned on him for support.