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Mr. Patimkin
Mrs. Patimkin is Brenda, Ron, and Julie’s mother, and Mr. Patimkin’s wife. She is beautiful and very polite. Brenda believes that Mrs. Patimkin hates Brenda because she is jealous of Brenda’s youth and athletic ability, but Roth demonstrates that Mrs. Patimkin also resents her daughter because their family’s wealth has enabled Brenda to be lazy. Mrs. Patimkin is also more religious than the rest of her family: she is orthodox, she keeps a kosher kitchen, and she belongs to a Jewish service organization. Thus, while the Patimkins are outwardly very assimilated in appearance, they also privately maintain their religious practices. At the end of the novella, Mrs. Patimkin discovers Brenda’s diaphragm in her dresser drawer. Mrs. Patimkin is scandalized by the idea that Brenda and Neil had been sleeping together over the summer and writes a distraught letter to Brenda. This forces Brenda to break up with Neil, believing that this is the only way that her family will accept her again.
Mrs. Patimkin Quotes in Goodbye, Columbus
The Goodbye, Columbus quotes below are all either spoken by Mrs. Patimkin or refer to Mrs. Patimkin. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 2
Quotes
Money! My father’s up to here with it, but whenever I buy a coat you should hear her. “You don’t have to go to Bonwit’s, young lady, Ohrbach’s has the strongest fabrics of any of them.” Who wants a strong fabric! Finally I get what I want, but not till she’s had a chance to aggravate me. Money is a waste for her. She doesn’t even know how to enjoy it. She still thinks we live in Newark.
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Chapter 5
Quotes
When the puny sixty-watt bulb was twisted on, I saw that the place was full of old furniture—two wing chairs with hair oil lines at the back, a sofa with a paunch in its middle, a bridge table, two bridge chairs with their stuffing showing, a mirror whose backing had peeled off, shadeless lamps, lampless shades, a coffee table with a cracked glass top, and a pile of rolled up shades.
“What is this?” I said.
“A storeroom. Our old furniture.”
“How old?”
“From Newark,” she said.
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Chapter 6
Quotes
Here you need a little of the gonif in you. You know what that means? Gonif?”
“Thief,” I said.
“You know more than my own kids. They’re goyim, my kids, that’s how much they understand.”
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Mrs. Patimkin Quotes in Goodbye, Columbus
The Goodbye, Columbus quotes below are all either spoken by Mrs. Patimkin or refer to Mrs. Patimkin. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 2
Quotes
Money! My father’s up to here with it, but whenever I buy a coat you should hear her. “You don’t have to go to Bonwit’s, young lady, Ohrbach’s has the strongest fabrics of any of them.” Who wants a strong fabric! Finally I get what I want, but not till she’s had a chance to aggravate me. Money is a waste for her. She doesn’t even know how to enjoy it. She still thinks we live in Newark.
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5
Quotes
When the puny sixty-watt bulb was twisted on, I saw that the place was full of old furniture—two wing chairs with hair oil lines at the back, a sofa with a paunch in its middle, a bridge table, two bridge chairs with their stuffing showing, a mirror whose backing had peeled off, shadeless lamps, lampless shades, a coffee table with a cracked glass top, and a pile of rolled up shades.
“What is this?” I said.
“A storeroom. Our old furniture.”
“How old?”
“From Newark,” she said.
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Chapter 6
Quotes
Here you need a little of the gonif in you. You know what that means? Gonif?”
“Thief,” I said.
“You know more than my own kids. They’re goyim, my kids, that’s how much they understand.”
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