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    Social Groups and the Characters in Paule Marshall's Praisesong for the Widow and Philip Roth's Goodbye, Columbus

    Number of Pages: 6

     

    Summary of the research paper:

    A comparative analysis of Avey and Neil from these respective works are examined in terms of the social groups they belong to in six pages. There are no other sources listed.

    Name of Research Paper File: JR7_RAavey.rtf

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    Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
    social groups that they are perhaps not equipped to deal with. They are individuals from two very different walks of life and they are also individuals who find themselves in  various social situations where they are out of place. In Roths story his narrator and primary character, Neil, states, "No sense carrying dreams of Tahiti in your head, if you  cant afford the fare" (120). In the following paper we examine how this simple statement applies to both Avey, in Marshalls book, and Neil as they encounter various social groups  along their travels. Neil In examining Neil we first look, once more, at the statement provided in the introduction. This statements origins are seen when Neil is  at the library and a young black boy comes in to look at a book on Tahiti. Symbolically this event stuck with Neil as the poor black boy was perhaps  never going to see Tahiti or anything else that required money and social standing. As Neils story progresses he finally comes to the realization that he does not belong in  Tahiti, the symbolic representation of the social class of his love. And, if does not have the fare, or the social position, he cannot go there. We see these  social classes clearly defined in the beginning when Neil is first detailing Brendas sister, Julie: "ten, round-faced, bright, who before dinner, while the other little girls on the street had  been playing with jacks and with boys and with each other, had been on the back lawn putting golf balls with her father" (Roth 15). This right off establishes Brendas  family as one that is far up the social ladder. Their children do not play like average children and as such their social class is very different from Neils. This 

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