58 pages • 1 hour read
Philip RothGoodbye Columbus
Fiction | Short Story Collection | Adult | Published in 1959A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
“You Can’t Tell a Man by the Song He Sings”Chapter Summaries & Analyses
“You Can’t Tell a Man by the Song He Sings” Summary
On his first day of high school, the unnamed narrator meets Albie Pelagutti in Mr. Russo’s occupations class. They take a test to help decide what careers suit them best, and when Mr. Russo steps out of the room for a drink of water, Albie forces the protagonist to let him cheat off him, despite the test being opinion based. After this, they become friends. Albie is 17, is in his third freshman year, and was recently released from Jamesburg Reformatory. As they spend more time together, the protagonist learns more about Albie, who tells him he was the star baseball player at Jamesburg. The protagonist picks Albie first for his baseball team in physical education, but Albie turns out to be a horrible player who can neither hit nor catch the ball. They lose their first game, and the protagonist is enraged. He confronts Albie, accusing him of lying about being a star and lamenting that he will be stuck with him on his team for the rest of the term. Albie turns and punches him in the face.
There is another ex-convict in the class, named Duke Scarpa. He is not as determined to be reformed as Albie is and often follows Albie and the protagonist around. He is not friends with Albie but practices fighting with the protagonist during lunch. Albie gives up his efforts to be reformed when Mr. Russo, who believes in the results of the tests, sends Albie and the protagonist to the courthouse. Both of their tests said they should be lawyers, but Albie leaves before they reach the top of the steps, saying he’s seen the inside of the courtroom enough already. He begins plotting revenge on Mr. Russo.
One day in class, when everyone comes in, the protagonist, under the direction of Albie, tells each student to duck under their desk and pretend to tie their shoe the first time Mr. Russo turns his back to write on the board. When he does and the students duck, Albie starts singing, and the rest of the students, even Duke, join in. Mr. Russo is at a loss, and though Albie briefly stops, he soon starts up again with “The Star-Spangled Banner.” The students join him again, and even Mr. Russo sings along.
Albie leaves the school that June, having failed all his classes except Occupations, but his and the protagonist’s friendship ends in March. Albie begins refereeing the protagonist and Duke’s fights during lunch, and one day, as he separates them, he pushes the protagonist so hard that his fist breaks through a window. Both Albie and Duke flee, leaving him with the blame. Looking back, the protagonist does not know what happened to Duke or Albie in the 15 years since that day, but he does know that Mr. Russo was fired for having been a Marxist while in teaching school. He remembers that after breaking the window, he went to the principal’s office and was shown a card with his name and the misdeed on it. The card was accompanied by a warning, and he realized that Albie and Duke must have had much more extensive records of their own misdeeds and that this was the reason they ran.
“You Can’t Tell a Man by the Song He Sings” Analysis
“You Can’t Tell a Man by the Song He Sings” is the second story in the collection that features a child as the main character, though in this story, the plot occurs in a high school. It is the shortest story in the collection and focuses on the protagonist’s understanding of his friend Albie Pelagutti as he struggles with the desire to lead a better life. Pelagutti and another ex-con, Duke, have been assigned to the narrator’s school because of their failure to be rehabilitated at others: “Both lived at the other end of Newark, ‘down neck,’ and they had reached us only after the Board of Education had tried Albie at two other schools and Duke at four. The Board hoped finally, like Marx, that the higher culture would absorb the lower” (240). Albie and Duke’s distinction as “others” comes not from their background in crime and difficulty in school but from their homes. Class and Status as a Source of Conflict is a major aspect of this story, as these two friends of the narrator come from an area of the city deemed “worse” and “lower.” Their behavior and criminal records are attributed to this identity, and hopes of improving them hinge on being exposed to those of a higher class and status. The Board of Education hopes to change both of these boys by surrounding them with the children they want them to be like.
Albie struggles with his identity at this new school, primarily through the occupations class he takes with the protagonist. Their teacher, Mr. Russo, believes that the results of the students’ career tests are definitive and that they should be supported, even coerced, into following these paths. When Albie cheats off the protagonist’s test and also scores as a lawyer, Mr. Russo organizes a trip for them to see the courthouse. This trip is triggering for Albie, and he flees before they set foot in the building: “I called to him but he shouted back that he had seen it all before, and then he was not walking, but running towards the crowded downtown streets, pursued not by police, but by other days” (241). The metaphorical use of the phrase “other days” underscores the power of Albie’s past to influence his present. For the protagonist, the trip to the courthouse offers a glimpse into what he hopes might be his future. For Albie, by contrast, it triggers memories of the past so painful that they can pursue him like the police themselves. Once again, Class and Status as a Source of Conflict haunt Albie, as he is reminded of his different position in life as compared to the narrator and the ways in which his past will influence his future.
Albie comes to the protagonist’s school in hopes of a fresh start with better influences around him, only to find that his past still causes issues. His response to these issues—plotting revenge on the occupations teacher—arises out of old behavioral patterns and seems likely to further damage his future prospects: “No surprise, then, when the next day after gym Albie announced his assault on the Occupations teacher; it was the first crime he had planned since his decision to go straight back in September” (241). However, Albie proves that he can change when his revenge takes an unexpected form. Instead of lashing out violently against Mr. Russo, he breaks out in song, disrupting the class with an impromptu sing-along that culminates in a patriotic rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” that even Mr. Russo participates in. Despite his past and his ill feelings toward Mr. Russo, Albie stays committed to leading a different life at the protagonist’s school.
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