Homestead 42 Analysis in The Plot Against America

Drawing inspiration from the Homestead Act of 1862—a piece of legislation intended to encourage westward migration by providing settlers with 160 acres of public land—the fictional Homestead 42 is enacted under the guise of encouraging Jewish families to settle in the American West. In reality, like Just Folks, Homestead 42 is an OAA program whose goal is to break up Jewish families, weaken and dilute Jewish culture, and decimate the power of Jewish constituencies across America.

Homestead 42 Quotes in The Plot Against America

The The Plot Against America quotes below are all either spoken by Homestead 42 or refer to Homestead 42. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

Jewish Identity vs. Assimilation Theme Icon

).

“And who will I talk to?” she asked. “Who will I have there like the friends I’ve had my whole life?”

“There are women there, too.”

“Gentile women,” she said. […] “Good Christian women,” she said,” who will fall all over themselves to make me feel at home. They have no right to do this!” she proclaimed. […] “this is illegal. You cannot just take Jews because they’re Jews and force them to live where you want them to.”

Related Characters: Herman Roth (speaker), Bess Roth (speaker), Philip Roth, Sanford “Sandy” Roth

Page Number and Citation: 208

Explanation and Analysis:

“I lived in Kentucky! Kentucky is one of the forty-eight states! Human beings live there like they do everywhere else! It is not a concentration camp! This guy makes millions selling his shitty hand lotion—and you people believe him!”

“I already told you about the dirty words, and now I’m telling you about this ‘you people’ business. ‘You people’ one more time, son, and I am going to ask you to leave the house.”

Related Characters: Herman Roth (speaker), Sanford “Sandy” Roth (speaker), Philip Roth, Bess Roth, Walter Winchell

Page Number and Citation: 230

Explanation and Analysis:

Homestead 42 Term Timeline in The Plot Against America

The timeline below shows where the term Homestead 42 appears in The Plot Against America. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...the Roths receive a letter from Metropolitan Life informing them that under the OAA’s new Homestead 42 act, their family will be relocated to rural Danville, Kentucky in September. The letter states... (full context)

...on the radio. Herman has been perturbed for weeks by Winchell’s failure to report on Homestead 42 and recently went so far as to write a letter begging the host to discuss... (full context)

...warm, though, and Philip can’t sleep—he hears every word of Winchell’s broadcast. Winchell begins discussing Homestead 42 at last. He suggests that Homestead 42 Jews might end up in concentration camps—and states... (full context)

...and gone to work at Uncle Monty’s market in order to dodge the edicts of Homestead 42 . Herman takes the night shift, which means he sleeps during the day and leaves... (full context)

...their shift, asking about Herman’s suspicious behavior: harboring a “traitor” and quitting MetLife to avoid Homestead 42 . One of Longy Zwillman’s henchmen, Niggy Apfelbaum, brings Monty the news about the FBI... (full context)

...Jews—only then, according to Bengelsdorf, did Lindbergh resist, instituting “token programs” like Just Folks and Homestead 42 to appease the Nazis. Von Ribbentrop’s state dinner was part of a meeting meant to... (full context)

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Homestead 42 Term Analysis

Homestead 42 Quotes in The Plot Against America

Homestead 42 Term Timeline in The Plot Against America

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