His portrayals of the relationships beetween men and women focus on the tragedy and deceit that they bring upon each other. The references to nose jobs that his jewish freinds were getting in, Goodbye, Columbus refers to the theme of becoming 'American'. Financial success is satirized in confusing metaphor, and described with a sometimes unrecognizable humor. His portrayal of Jews in his books led the Jewish community at large to condemn his works while critics praised his insight and sometimes brutal honesty. His themes take on larger moral issues.
Money is an afterthought many times.
His novels rarely end with a happy ending. They just seem to end. The underlying plots of the Jewish struggle are cloaked in an unreachable use of Yiddish analogies in character names. The cultural and personal self-hatred of the characters is assumed to be an anology to the Jewish quest for selfhood on the United States. Philip Roth Continues to write and his story of American life, its complex modern issues and the continuing Jewish struggle are still evident.