He spends four years playing football at Ohio State to in the end leave campus and walk away from football forever. He spends a whole summer loving a girl he thinks he will marry to also just walk away from her forever. All the joy and pleasure that in the moment seemed as if it would last forever turns out to be just temporary. The only things these two men have to show for their experiences now are memories. Philip Roth’s Goodbye, Columbus shows how fleeting life’s experiences really are through Ron’s college record and Neil and Brenda’s relationship.
Ron Patimkin, an Ohio State alumni, reminiscences about his past football days. He plays an old recording of the last game of his senior year. Clearly, Ron’s recording moves him as he closes his eyes and hums the track from it. He is so focused on his past memories that Ron doesn’t even notice when Neil leaves the room. Back in 1957 when Ron ran onto the OSU field, he had no clue where his life would take him; he just soaked up the roaring crowd and fierce competition. Now he is older and married, but he still thinks about his glory days in college.
Neil and Brenda met when he held her glasses at the pool. He immediately knew he had to call and pursue her that night. At first they are unsure of what to define their relationship as, but they quickly realize that they love each other. Neil visits Brenda quite often and they grow very close to each other over the summer. Then in the fall, Brenda moves off to college. Neil visits her at school during a Jewish holiday and being in her presence again knows that he wants to marry her. In that moment, he feels like their relationship is going to last forever. Within the next hour, however, Neil heads back to his hometown, “in plenty of time for work,” after saying goodbye to Brenda for the last time.
Ron dedicated his college years to training for football games. Before he knew it he played his last game and within another blink of an eye it’s his wedding day. Now he only has an old record to show for his football days. Neil dedicates his summer to some girl he meets at the pool. He then leaves her that fall and moves on with his normal life. Both of these men experience events that in the moment consume their whole lives, but soon blend into the past.
Ron’s memories of college and Neil’s summer fling show how quickly life marches on. What means everything today, holds less value tomorrow. People are forced to move on and change as they pass different levels of life causing once beloved objects and people to get left behind. Whether hard or easy, every new stage of life comes with a “goodbye.”
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