presented himself as a middle-class Jewish man, was born an African American
in East Orange, New Jersey. After returning from World War II, Coleman began
pretending to be a white Jew living in New York City, a process that culminated
in abandoning his birth family and marrying a Jewish woman named Iris Gittel-
man. Zuckerman discovers this secret at Coleman’s grave, when Coleman’s sister
Ernestine introduces herself, and from the information she gives him, Zuckerman
constructs a life story for Coleman Silk. Much of the novel narrates how Cole-
man made his decision to “pass” as a white man and the effects of that decision
on his family. Instead of telling others the truth, that he is the son of a railroad
dining car worker who read William Shakespeare and died at an early age, Cole-
man creates a very different elaborate backstory for himself: he pretends to be
the son of a Jewish saloon owner who kept a blackjack and a dictionary behind
the bar at all times. Ultimately, Zuckerman portrays Coleman’s decision to pass
as a move of supreme independence, not as one of embarrassment or selfishness:
“The objective was for his fate to be determined not by the ignorant, hate-filled
intentions of a hostile world but, to whatever degree humanly possible, by his own
resolve. Why accept a life on any other terms?”
Students studying Philip Roth and The Human Stain should begin with the
Roth Society website (http://rothsociety.org) and the Roth Society journal,
Philip Roth Studies, published semiannually. The website bibliography is up-to-
date and provides some full-text interviews and criticism. The journal periodically
publishes theme issues, such as the Fall 2006 number, “Roth and Race.”
TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION AND RESEARCH
- The most obvious instance of passing in the novel is Coleman pretending
to be white instead of living as an African American, but many more subtle
instances of passing are woven throughout the novel. Delphine Roux passes as
smart, successful, and secure, but her stable exterior hides how truly insecure
and lonely she is. The American public that passes judgment (on both Cole-
man and Bill Clinton) is superficially moral and pure, yet the discussions and
judgments are certainly impure, in that the public still wants to gossip about
and punish those who transgress. The novel itself can even be accused of pass-
ing as a true account: although the work has a narrator gathering pieces of
biographical information about the downfall of Coleman Silk, it is important
to remember that Nathan Zuckerman is a writer of fiction who is rendering
scenes within the novel to suit his own needs and that Zuckerman himself is
a fictional character. Students would find it fruitful to trace the implications
of any of these instances of passing, to compare and contrast a few of them,
or to compare the social with the psychological ramifications of any of the
instances of passing. Patrice D. Rankine’s essay may be thought-provoking
with regard to this topic, and Jennifer Glaser’s discussion of race theory will
be stimulating. - The historical moment of the novel is one that focuses on the impurities of
human sexuality: Bill Clinton’s White House scandal is the topic on every-
one’s mind and in every public conversation. Underlying such conversations