Abstract: Philip Roth's novel Nemesis follows Jewish gym teacher Bucky Cantor as he unravels in the wake of a polio epidemic. Barred from fighting in WWII due to poor eyesight, Bucky attempts to atone for this self-perceived failure of masculinity by acting as a rational, masculine-coded voice quelling "hysterical" noise. However, Bucky's decision to leave his post catalyzes a crisis of identity when polio follows him in his retreat. As he draws closer to his "destiny" of self-imposed exile, I show how his attitudes about music, sound, and silence parallel his shifting sense of self. By denying himself the pleasure of listening to music he once loved—by embracing the silence of social alienation rather than the bustle of community engagement—Bucky becomes a character in a self-determined tragedy, destroying any chance for restitution in his life story.
Bronwen McVeigh (Mon,) studied this question.