Philip Roth: "The Human Stain (*2)"

(RIP PHILIP ROTH)

"He was Coleman, the greatest of the pioneers of the I. [...] The objective was for his fate to be determined not by the ignorant, hate-filled intentions of a hostile world but, to whatever degree humanly possible, by his own resolve.  Why accept life on any other terms? [....]  He was not an embittered anarchist like Iri's father, Gittelman.  He was not a firebrand or an agitator in any way.  Nor was he a madman.  Nor was he a radical or a revolutionary, net even intellectually or philosophically speaking, unless it is revolutionary to believe that disregarding prescriptive society's most restrictive demarcations and asserting independently a free personal choice that is well within the law was something other than a basic human fight -unless it is revolutionary, when you've come of age, to refuse to accept automatically the contract drawn up for your signature at birth."