Goodbye Columbus ch. 2

Parrallels / Contrasts: 

The Patimkin nose is brought up again. This time Neil says "Brenda's old nose fitted him well" (28). Neil is still interested in the nose problem. In Chapter one he was asking a lot of questions about why Brenda had her nose fixed. Now he noticed Mr. Patimkin's nose and he seems to like it. I think he is still confused as to why she had hers fixed.

The biggest contrast is the contrast between how Neil's family eats dinner and how the Patimkin's eat dinner. In Neil's family Aunt Gladys makes a different meal at different times for everyone in the family. Neil says:  "Aunt Gladys, suppose tonight we all eat dinner together" (4). Neil wants the whole family to eat together like a normal family would because his family eats at all different times. However, at Brenda's house he notices that: "We did not eat in the kitchen, rather, the six of us... sat around the dining room table..." (21). Brenda's family eats like a family would. That is what Neil had wanted his Aunt to do for his family.

Props: 
The Basketball
Brenda's au naturel dinner clothes
Brenda's Glasses
The Oak "sporting-goods" trees
The Phone

I think the most important prop this time would be the basketball. In this chapter we learn how sporty Brendas family is and the basketball makes Neil realize how serious they take their sports. Brenda's family always seems to be playing sports or talking about sports in this chapter.

Insights / Truths 

In this chapter Neil realizes how much of an outsider he really is in the Patimkin family. At dinner Mrs. P calls him Bill a couple of times and Neil says: "I feld for quite a while as though four inches had been clipped from my shoulders" (22). Neil is overpowered by everyone in the family. He feels as though he is not even there and that he is not part of this family at all.

Meaningful / Confusing Passages:

I think Neils game basketball game with Julie is a very important passage. When Brenda asks if he let her win he says: "I think so, I'm not sure" (29). Sports are so important that everyone in the family lets Julie win. They even let her take shots more than once to try to teach her basketball. This shows how much time they spend teaching sports and doing sports.