Part One:
In the consensus, history is envisioned as one story encompassing all time, peoples, and locations. Even the word history “his story” is misleading. Perhaps it would be best to view history as in interaction between multiple stories, not as his story but rather as their stories. Roth’s novel allows for just this. By introducing the plot from the different angles and perspectives of his characters he allows for variability in the events of the storyline. Consensus history and Roth’s history can be seen as competing characters in themselves as the novel challenges strictly pro-American views with a “what if” scenario where America and Nazi Germany are one and the same.
The interaction between Roth’s history and consensus history creates an environment where the doxa becomes muddled. This historicity serves to disrupt automatic reading. In doing so, it also allows for the individual to play a greater role than is typically shown in history. Perhaps the best example of this is found the newsreels. The newsreels present history as it is normally perceived. They are told from one view point only and allow for no questioning or alternatives. This view is what the reader was guarded against throughout the entire story by telling the events not as a historical account, but rather through the experiences of the characters during the story.
The newsreels also serve to contrast the notion of “perpetual fear”. Roth’s use of the newsreels shows that it would have been possible to tell his entire alternate history in as little as eight pages. This, however, would not allow one to see into the individual experiences of the characters. Fear is the underlying emotion throughout the entire novel. Roth’s mother is uncertain of the future and fears what may happen to her family, the bulk of America fears getting involved in the war, and even Lindbergh is forced into submission out of fear for his kidnapped child. The notion of a perpetual fear goes against consensus. Fear is typically perceived as something that eventually subsides. The experience of fear, however, can feel like forever. In the moment, fear can be all encompassing and eternal.
Part Two:
Roth’s uses poetics in a way that captures the emotional state of his characters and story. Phillip’s dream shows not only foreshadowing, but also Phillip’s fear that his home is being corrupted by anti-Semitism. It also demonstrates that Phillip is much more in tune with his surroundings than children his age are normally given credit for. He sees the signs that many adults who are typically regarded as wiser than him are blind to.
The interaction between chapters eight and nine reveals the contrast between time from a frightened individual’s perspective and time from a historian’s point of view. The chapter eight newsreels are fast paced and told in a way similar to a newscast or a history book. The evens of chapter nine seem to drag on, especially when compared with chapter eight, showing how time felt for the characters involved.
Heartland 