Philip's+Mother

Bess Roth grew up in Elizabeth, New Jersey. After high school she married Herman Roth and began work as an office secretary. Together, Herman and Bess moved to Newark, New Jersey and had their two sons, Sandy and Philip. Bess became the leader of the PTA at her sons' school and a great role model in her neighborhood. Her sons look up to her throughout the book as a strong and practical figure. For example, on page 68, in the midst of the "Loudmouth Jew" incident, Mrs. Roth plays both the role of protective mother and sensible wife: "Here my mother - who was holding my brother and me around the shoulders, shielding us alongside her and at a safe distance from the desk - called my father's name, trying to prevent him from going further." During much of the disarray that followed this event, Bess continues to be the strong one. However, she can have the occasional break down. Seeing this side of her, compared to how she is portrayed in the rest of the novel, gives her character much more depth. She may be calm and collected on the outside, but inside she is like any other human being. She gets rattled when everything in her world is crashing down. A reader can find this on page 226: "'No,' my mother said sadly, 'Not anymore. It's Lindbergh's. It's the goyim's. It's their country.' she said, and her breaking voice and the shocking words..." Bess can be seen mostly as the strong, independent woman; such as when she starts a new job to help prevent her family's possibly move to Canada or when she helps young Seldon make his breakfast. Throughout the book a reader can also see her vulnerable side.

In every story, there's a character who's looked to for emotional reactions. In this case, Philip's mother just happens to be that person. Whenever something major happens, she can be seen as the one person who wants to take the safe way out and who tries to hold in her feelings. At some point, however, her character is broken down in order to emphasize the significance and intensity of a certain situation. While at times she is strong for her family, a reader will know when an event is overbearing by how Mrs. Roth reacts to it. While it is hard to balance her, what seems to be, emotional and typical motherly character with the other strong characters in the book, she really does serve an important purpose in making sure the reader understands underlying emotions and the real weight of the book's conflicts.

I picture Mrs. Roth as somewhat of a Mrs. Gump :)