Opposites Attract
In this book both Brenda and Neil take pot shots at each others social class. She constantly calls things he says nasty and he makes fun of the stuff she does like wanting a nose job and wanting him to do what she wants. It seems that each was trying to change the other into there ideal mate. Do you think that either one of them would be ever to see the others point of view and except each other for who they are and were they came from or would they self destruct themselves by constantly picking out the others differences?
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I think that Brenda is so used to her way of life that the differences between the two will have to disappear for the relationship to go any further. Neil will have to assimilate to the Patimkin way of life if they are to continue. Brenda i believe is not willing to follow Neil, he will have to join her lifesyle.
I don't really think that they could pull anything off together. They are both in the relationship for the function that the other serves in their life rather than out of affection for each other. Neil is in love with Brenda's way of life and Brenda is in love with the feeling of importance she gets from Neil.
I think that they come from too different of backgrounds to have anything happen. I think that Neil has a good chance of understanding her idea of life and I think that it would be easier to understand her life, but Brenda lives in her own little world and she will never come to understand where he came from. That is why she never went to his house, for fear that she could not accept it. They would self-destruct in the end.
I think that Neil is the capable of seeing the world through Brenda's point of view, but not the other way around. Brenda is so used to her comfortable life that I do not see her excepting anything less. On the other hand, Neil does not have a major problem with assimilating to the Patimkin lifestyle. After his initial introduction to the more privileged family, he actual appears to enjoy it.
I think that the couple self-destructs and part of the reason why they do break up is because they are from different classes and cannot live with the other being in the particular class. Coming from different classes means that there are differences between them, and maybe Roth is saying that the distinct classes we have in society are self-destructive because the classes cannot coexist.
If Neil really wants to be with Brenda he would have to change his habits otherwise Brenda will leave Neil. I don't think the two will continue to pick on eachother and make it far as a couple since Brenda is obviously set on neatness and looking better. I'm guessing they will self-destruct themselves until she decides to leave him.
Because Neil and Brenda are complete opposites, their relationship is doomed for disaster. However, their distinct class differences are a large part of what attracts them to each other. Brenda uses her position of power to get Neil to do things for her and Neil sees Brenda's higher social standing as a means of climbing the social ladder.
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