Class is a major theme in Goodbye, Columbus. Within the first few pages, the stark contrast between Brenda's class and Neil's class is evident, present in every interaction between the two regardless of the context.
Neil is very conscious of his own socio-economic class . When he goes to pick up Brenda, for example, he says "'I'll be driving a--' I hung back with the year, 'a tan Plymouth.'" Neil deliberately didn't include the year when he described his car to Brenda in a failed attempt to put them on equal footing. Brenda will see the car anyway, and Neil knows this, but he so embarrassed that he won't admit it to himself out loud.
Later, when Neil and Brenda are walking together after the tennis game, Brenda tells Neil that she had her nose fixed. The conversation gets very awkward and uncomfortable very fast. He knows that he should probably just stop talking, but he can't help himself from asking Brenda how much it costs.
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