Indignation

The Chinese National Anthem, March of the Volunteers, which the whole world got to listen to at least some 51 times in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, serves, I surmise, an inspiration to Philip Roth's Indignation.


***** SPOILER ALERT *****



The story chronicles the last year of young Marcus Messner, son of a kosher butcher, how he becomes indignant and comes face to face with history and finally his not unexpected demise.

Mr. Roth sets the tone of the story by prefacing with part of E.E. Cumming's "i sing Olaf glad and big."

Olaf (Upon what were once knees)
does almost ceaselessly repeat
"there is some shit I will not eat"

If only Marcus could put his righteous indignation aside, eat some shit, perhaps he can live a longer if not happier life. If he just did what he has to do, like when he was eviscerating the entrails of chickens, just something he does, and does well, whether he likes it or not is not even germane. Alas, there is no "if" in life. Life is full of surprises and disappointments and sometimes one wrong move can have the direst consequence as Marcus finds out.