Portnoy's Complaint | Characters
Alexander Portnoy, the main character, is a self-tortured young man full of complaints and obsessed with sex. He tries to be mother's good boy and a successful student; he attains a job of prestige as the Assistant Commissioner of Human Opportunity for the City of New York. Because of his hilarious confessions and his fear of exposure, he is depicted as an "unloved and unloving" person. After numerous sexual encounters with non-Jewish girls (with names such as The Pumpkin and The Pilgrim), he finds satisfying sex and love only with an intellectually unsophisticated, almost illiterate...
[The entire page is 206 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Navigate
Related Topics
Tell a friend about Portnoy's Complaint at eNotes.
