The Plot Against America

by

Philip Roth

Mrs. Wishnow is Seldon’s mother and Mr. Wishnow’s wife (and later, his widow). Mrs. Wishnow is a kind and empathetic woman who wants her son to fit in. Shortly after she and Sheldon are relocated to the rural Danville, Kentucky under the Homestead 42 act, Mrs. Wishnow is brutally murdered in an anti-Semitic riot that breaks out in Louisville.

Mrs. Wishnow Quotes in The Plot Against America

The The Plot Against America quotes below are all either spoken by Mrs. Wishnow or refer to Mrs. Wishnow. 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:
Jewish Identity vs. Assimilation Theme Icon
).
Chapter 9 Quotes

My father was a rescuer and orphans were his specialty. A displacement even greater than having to move to Union or to leave for Kentucky was to lose one’s parents and be orphaned. Witness, he would tell you, what had happened to Alvin. Witness what had happened to his sister-in-law after Grandma had died. No one should be motherless and fatherless. Motherless and fatherless you are vulnerable to manipulation, to influences—you are rootless and you are vulnerable to everything.

Related Characters: Philip Roth (speaker), Herman Roth, Alvin Roth, Seldon Wishnow, Mrs. Wishnow
Page Number: 358
Explanation and Analysis:

This was how Seldon came to live with us. After their safe return to Newark from Kentucky, Sandy moved into the sun parlor and Seldon took over where Alvin and Aunt Evelyn had left off—as the person in the twin bed next to mine shattered by the malicious indignities of Lindbergh’s America. There was no stump for me to care for this time. The boy himself was the stump, and until he was taken to live with his mother’s married sister in Brooklyn ten months later, I was the prosthesis.

Related Characters: Philip Roth (speaker), Sanford “Sandy” Roth, Alvin Roth, Aunt Evelyn, Charles Lindbergh, Seldon Wishnow, Mrs. Wishnow
Related Symbols: Alvin’s Prosthesis
Page Number: 361-362
Explanation and Analysis:
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Mrs. Wishnow Quotes in The Plot Against America

The The Plot Against America quotes below are all either spoken by Mrs. Wishnow or refer to Mrs. Wishnow. 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:
Jewish Identity vs. Assimilation Theme Icon
).
Chapter 9 Quotes

My father was a rescuer and orphans were his specialty. A displacement even greater than having to move to Union or to leave for Kentucky was to lose one’s parents and be orphaned. Witness, he would tell you, what had happened to Alvin. Witness what had happened to his sister-in-law after Grandma had died. No one should be motherless and fatherless. Motherless and fatherless you are vulnerable to manipulation, to influences—you are rootless and you are vulnerable to everything.

Related Characters: Philip Roth (speaker), Herman Roth, Alvin Roth, Seldon Wishnow, Mrs. Wishnow
Page Number: 358
Explanation and Analysis:

This was how Seldon came to live with us. After their safe return to Newark from Kentucky, Sandy moved into the sun parlor and Seldon took over where Alvin and Aunt Evelyn had left off—as the person in the twin bed next to mine shattered by the malicious indignities of Lindbergh’s America. There was no stump for me to care for this time. The boy himself was the stump, and until he was taken to live with his mother’s married sister in Brooklyn ten months later, I was the prosthesis.

Related Characters: Philip Roth (speaker), Sanford “Sandy” Roth, Alvin Roth, Aunt Evelyn, Charles Lindbergh, Seldon Wishnow, Mrs. Wishnow
Related Symbols: Alvin’s Prosthesis
Page Number: 361-362
Explanation and Analysis: