Philip Roth - Our Gang

OUR GANG by Philip Roth "The victims may not enjoy it, but they should be flattered. It is no small distinction to have provoked the wittiest and wickedest political satire since Dryden." -Atlantic Monthly Bantam Books by Philip Roth Ask your bookseller for the books you have missed GOODBYE, COLUMBUS LETTING GO WHEN SHE WAS GOOD PORTNOY'S COMPLAINT OUR GANG This low-priced Bantam Book has been completely reset in a type face designed for easy reading, and was printed from new plates. It contains the complete text of the original hard-cover edition. NOT ONE WORD HAS BEEN OMITTED. OUR GANG A Bantam Book / published by arrangement with Random House, Inc. PRINTING HISTORY Random House edition published October 1971 2nd printing ...

November 1971 3rd printing ... November 1971 4th printing ... December 1971 Literary Guild edition published January 1972 Book Find Club edition published January 1972 Bantam edition published May 1972 Sections of this book appeared in somewhat different form in MODERN OCCASIONS and THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American. Copyright Conventions. Copyright 1971 by Philip Roth.

This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by mimeograph or any other means, without permission. For information address: Random House, Inc., 201 East 50th Street, New York, N.Y. 10022. Published simultaneously in the United States and Canada Bantam Books are published by Bantam Books, Inc., a National General company. Its trade-mark, consisting of the words "Bantam Books" and the portrayal of a bantam, is registered in the United States Patent Office and in other countries. Marco Registrada.

Bantam Books, Inc., 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10019. PRINTED IN THE UNITED ST ATES OF AMERICA To MILDRED MARTIN of Bucknell University, ROBERT MAURER now of Antioch College, and NAPIER WILT of the University of Chicago three teachers to whom I remain particularly grateful for the instruction and encouragement they gave me . And I remember frequent Discourses with my Master concerning the Nature of Manhood, in other Parts of the World; having Occasion to talk of Lying, and false Representation, it was with much Difficulty that he comprehended what I meant; although he had otherwise a most acute judgment. For he argued thus; That the Use of Speech was to make us understand one another, and to receive Information of Facts; now if anyone said the Thing which was not, these Ends were defeated; because I cannot properly be said to understand him; and I am so far from receiving Information, that he leaves me worse than in Ignorance; for I am led to believe a Thing Black when it is White, and Short when it is Long. -Jonathan Swift, A Voyage to the Houyhnhnms, 1726 ... one ought to recognize that the present political chaos is connected with the decay of language, and that one can probably bring about some improvement by starting at the verbal end.... one ought to recognize that the present political chaos is connected with the decay of language, and that one can probably bring about some improvement by starting at the verbal end....

Political language-and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists-is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. -George Orwell, "Politics and the English Language," 1946 FROM PERSONAL AND RELIGIOUS BELIEFS I CONSIDER ABORTIONS AN UNACCEPTABLE FORM OF POPULATION CONTROL. FURTHERMORE, UNRESTRICTED ABORTION POLICIES, OR ABORTION ON DEMAND, I CANNOT SQUARE WITH MY PERSONAL BELIEF IN THE SANCTITY OF HUMAN LIFEINCLUDING THE LIFE OF THE YET UNBORN. FOR, SURELY, THE UNBORN HAVE RIGHTS ALSO, RECOGNIZED IN LAW, RECOGNIZED EVEN IN PRINCIPLES EXPOUNDED BY THE UNITED NATIONS. RICHARD NIXON, SAN CLEMENTE, APRIL 3, 1971 Tricky Comforts a Troubled Citizen CITIZEN: Sir, I want to congratulate you for coming out on April 3 for the sanctity of human life, including the life of the yet unborn. That required a lot of courage, especially in the light of the November election results.

TRICKY: Well, thank you, I know I could have done the popular thing, of course, and come out against the sanctity of human life. But frankly I'd rather be a oneterm President and do what I believe is right than be a two-term President by taking an easy position like that. After all, I have got my conscience to deal with, as well as the electorate. CITIZEN: Your conscience, sir, is a marvel to us all. TRICKY: Thank you. CITIZEN: I wonder if I may ask you a question 2 OUR GANG having to do with Lieutenant Calley and his conviction for killing twentytwo Vietnamese civilians at My Lai.

TRICKY: Certainly. I suppose you are bringing that up as another example of my refusal to do the popular thing. CITIZEN: How's that, sir? TRICKY: Well, in the wake of the public outcry against that conviction, the popular thing-the most popular thing by far-would have been for me, as Commanderin-Chief, to have convicted the twentytwo unarmed civilians of conspiracy to murder Lieutenant Calley. But if you read your papers, you'll see I refused to do that, and chose only to review the question of his guilt, and not theirs. As I said, I'd rather be a oneterm President. And may I make one thing more perfectly clear, while we're on the subject of Vietnam? I am not going to interfere in the internal affairs of another country.

If President Thieu has sufficient evidence and wishes to try those twentytwo My Lai villagers posthumously, according to some Vietnamese law having to do with ancestor worship, that is his business. But I assure you, I in no way intend to interfere with the workings of the Vietnamese system of justice. I think President Thieu, and the duly elected Saigon officials, can "hack" it alone in the law and order department. CITIZEN: Sir, the question that's been troubling TRICKY COMFORTS A TROUBLED CITIZEN me is this. Inasmuch as I share your belief in the sanctity of human life TRICKY: Good for you. I'll bet you're quite a football fan, too.

CITIZEN: I am, sir. Thank you, sir ... But inasmuch as I feel as you do about the unborn, I am seriously troubled by the possibility that Lieutenant Calley may have committed an abortion. I hate to say this, Mr. President, but I am seriously troubled when I think that one of those twentytwo Vietnamese civilians Lieutenant Calley killed may have been a pregnant woman. TRICKY: Now just one minute.

We have a tradition in the courts of this land that a man is innocent until he is proven guilty. There were babies in that ditch at My Lai, and we know there were women of all ages, but I have not seen a single document that suggests the ditch at My Lai contained a pregnant woman. CITIZEN: But what if, sir-what if one of the twentytwo was a pregnant woman? Suppose that were to come to light in your judicial review of the lieutenant's conviction. In that you personally believe in the sanctity of human life, including the life of the yet unborn, couldn't such a fact seriously prejudice you against Lieutenant Calley's appeal? I have to admit that as an opponent of abortion, it would have a profound effect upon me. TRICKY: Well, it's very honest of you to admit it. OUR GANG But as a trained lawyer, I think I might be able to go at the matter in a somewhat less emotional manner.

First off, I would have to ask whether Lieutenant Calley was aware of the fact that the woman in question was pregnant before he killed her. Clearly, if she was not yet "showing," I think you in all fairness have to conclude that the lieutenant could have had no knowledge of her pregnancy, and thus, in no sense of the word, would he have committed an abortion. CITIZEN: What if she told him she was pregnant? TRICKY: Good question. She might indeed have tried to tell him. But in that Lieutenant Calley is an American who speaks only English, and the My Lai villager is a Vietnamese who speaks only Vietnamese, there could have been no possible means of verbal communication. And as for sign language, I don't believe we can hang a man for failing to understand what must surely have been the gestures of a hysterical, if not deranged, woman.