In light of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, Philip Roth decided to explore the complicated nature of what society can do to a person with "The Human Stain." As the story of an interracial teacher who is fired for a deceptively offensive comment, the story explores how cancel culture can impact one's life. The results are, predictably, uncomfortable but finds Roth sympathizing with a man whose life unravels in a manner that begins to make sense the longer things go on. For every philosophical tirade and effort to get his life back together, the real story is about perspective. Can controversy stain one's life forever or are there ways to move beyond it? Along with a problematic relationship that muddies his relationship with the reader, this is a novel that has a lot of big ideas. How willing one is to listen depends on how much they want to spend time listening to a chauvinistic characer who reflects an older way of looking at the world.
For decades, Roth was celebrated for depicting the complications of being a Jewish man in America. In this case, he conflates a lot of outsider status with a character who is at the end of his rope. While he's settled into a comfortable life at the start, it slowly becomes clear that his way of looking at things is outdated. A more progressive view is kicking him out. Even the way the narration plays throughout the novel reflects how gossip informs an outsider's understanding of a person's life. They're only given whatever Roth is providing, and it's not always the answer that they want. It's confrontational and sometimes baffling, but it helps to paint a picture that is in Roth's wheelhouse. The unpleasantness is necessary. How could a person's life be ruined by a small instance of miscalculation?
More importantly, why do they fixate on the moment to the point of dedicating their life to trying to erase any connection to it? They want to believe that they are superior and have the last word. Egos fly throughout the book and it produces something both funny and frustrating. As the second half delve into some shocking twists, it's clear that this isn't going to be resolved in a convenient manner. Even the finale is such an abstract metaphor that it takes a few extra read throughs to fully appreciate the labyrinthian theme that Roth is trying to get at.
He ultimately comes down on the side that people will believe what they want and move around their comfort zones. Is it enough for progress to be made, or will they exist with boogeymen that keep them from seeing the nuance of being alive? Whatever the text lacks in greater entertainment value it more than makes up for with a few truly staggering passages that find Roth delving into the despair of humanity in thought-provoking manners. Again, he's maybe a bit too unpleasant to be totally accessible to modern audiences, but if judged solely for what he captures, it's not a terrible read. It's a unique trip into turn of the century politics and finds the ways that race and identity are still difficult topics to fully nail down as having convenient answers. Sometimes change is necessary. But what kind of change actually will make a difference? According to Roth, it's not the convenient type.
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