46 pages 1 hour read

Philip Roth

Sabbath's Theater

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1995

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Part 2, Pages 352-451

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 2: “To Be Or Not To Be”

Part 2, Pages 352-412 Summary

Sabbath arrives to find everything changed. He heads to the graveyard where his family is buried only to find a grocery store in its place. No one in the store knows of the cemetery, and he only finds it by following a Jewish funeral procession. Before the funeral begins, Sabbath finds the cemetery superintendent and they go to his family’s plot to see if there is any room left. There is not, as his aunt took the fourth and final plot two years prior. The superintendent informs Sabbath of a single and double plot nearby and goes to check their availability. While he is gone, Sabbath searches the cemetery for his grandparents.

When he finds his grandparents’ graves, he reminisces about his grandmother and how special she was to him. He thinks of how nice Morty was, teaching him to fish and protecting him from bullies. He returns to the main building and uses Michelle’s money to buy the single plot near his family. He makes all the arrangements and pays for a coffin, plants, memorial inscription, and a rabbi. He writes the inscription and seals it in an envelope, only to be opened when he dies. He then goes to see his new plot and looks over it with pride, imagining an inscription that will account for his many crimes and perversions.

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