The idea of the new world verses the old world is a major premise in the novel Goodbye Columbus. In this novel there are two families who live very different lives. The Patimkin family, and the Klugman family. They represent the struggle between the new and old world. The Patimkin family is the wealthy middle-class family and they live in the hills, they also belong to the country club, which is a r

epresentation of having money and living the American dream. The idea of belonging to the country club is a major part of the novel. The country club gave the Patimkin's a replica of middle class life in America. Since the Patimkin's were Jewish they didn't have the opportunity to belong to a regular country club, they belonged to the Jewish one, which is why it was the closest replica of the American dream to them, because they were not allowed to be part of the non-Jewish country clubs. The Patimikin's represent the new world, they achieved higher success and they are able to identify with the non-Jewish part of middle class society a lot more then their fellow Jewish immigrants who have not fully assimilated to society.

The women in both novels have a huge impact on the themes. Daisy comes from a privileged family and has always grown up in wealth, she has a high status in her community and she is always getting men to fall in love with her. She has a charm and she is a symbol of higher status in society. She is used to getting what she wants. Brenda is very similar to Daisy in the fact that she represents a higher status for women in society also. She has not always grown up in wealth, but she is not that old, and therefore she has not had that much time without it. In her household she is treated like a princess, she is given everything she wants and her father treats her like she has a high standing in society, but her society is really small in comparison to Daisy's. She too, like Daisy is used to getting what she wants. Both women have a strong hold on the man in their lives, they represent what both men want, but will never have. Gatsby wants to have Daisy, but she is married and therefore he just lives his life wanting her, in Neil's case he has Brenda, but not really because she is able to control every aspect of their relationship. The women in both of the novels are representations of the theme of money and power.

In the other novel Neil had another agenda for going out with Brenda. He knew that marrying into her family would give him a higher status in life. He also loved her, but he too, like Gatsby was more in love with the idea of having Brenda then Brenda herself. By the end of the novel Neil could not stand the fact that Brenda was able to do whatever she wanted in the relationship and this caused him to overreact and force her to do something she didn't really want to do. Brenda too had her faults, she was raised thinking she was a princess, just as Daisy thought that she was special because she had always been raised as a wealthy young girl, and both women always got what they wanted. So when Brenda was with Neil she expected him to treat her the same way her father had always treated her, and she expected to get what she wanted when she wanted it. The conflict between what each person wanted is what lead to the end of both novels. In Goodbye Columbus Neil a

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Approximate Word count = 1961
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)