Live And Let Live

“No!” he shouted. The Jainism, the legalism, the egregious innocence, all of it desperation, all of it to distance herself from the four who are dead. “This will not do! You are not an Algerian woman! You are not from Algeria and you are not from India! You are an American girl from Old Rimrock, New Jersey! A very, very screwed-up American girl!” (Roth, 264)

This dialogue comes from the latest book we have read in class, American Pastoral by Philip Roth. I’m not much of a history person, but I liked the use of real historical events in this fiction novel. Something that really stood out to me was Merry’s new practice of life that she introduced to her father in Chapter 6 when he finally finds her and visits with her. Her new religion is what is called Jainism. I knew nothing about this way of life, and didn’t even know if it was real when I first read the novel. I looked it up and decided I would look further into it since we didn’t cover much of it in class and because I found it quite interesting.