The incident leads him to immigrate to Israel and become a kibbutznik himself and join the Israeli paratroopers, in exploring the Jewish identity that had been denied to him throughout his life by his family's assimilation while being externally imposed on him. Over the course of the book, he accepts his identity through the loss of his Dutch Christian fiancée, a pediatrician who is killed while attending a sick kibbutznik child during a visit to Israel. He sees more pervasive racism when a popular black athlete is denied entrance to the Hasty Pudding Club, and when a drill instructor punishes him during his service in the Marines when he inadvertently invites him to a segregated restaurant off-base, which the drill instructor interpreted as taunting. He experiences prejudice at several points, when denied admission to Yale and when denied invitation to the punches of Harvard's final clubs. Despite this, the one thing that troubles him is his constant conflict with his identity as a Jew, despite his parents' assimilation and conversion to Unitarianism. né Jacob Gruenwald, has the makings of a perfect son, of whom any parent would be proud. Jason Gilbert, Jr., son of Jason Gilbert, Sr. He has an interest in his family's history during the American Revolution, which in turn leads to him following his conscience and helping organize the Moratorium Day protests on Wall Street. Unfortunately, his wife is a serial adultress and alcoholic and demands a divorce, leaving him estranged from his own son and daughter, with limited visitation after his wife places both in boarding school at the age of 9 and 6, denying him custodial rights and frustrating his attempts to give them a home life.

After his military service, he enters an ill-fated marriage to the daughter of one of his father's classmates and takes up a career in investment banking. To experience life without privilege and to fulfill his military obligation, he serves in the navy as an ordinary swabbie. He is otherwise laid-back and friendly, and a good friend to all his classmates.

Due to his background, he feels the pressure of high expectations, which causes him to suffer from lack of confidence.

The Class follows the diverse fates of five members of Harvard's Class of 1958, recounting the way their lives intertwine, and coming to a dramatic conclusion at their class reunion, twenty-five years later.Īndrew Eliot comes from the Boston Brahmin Eliot family.

The book is about five fictional members of this class: Andrew Eliot, Jason Gilbert, Theodore Lambros, Daniel Rossi, and George Keller. The class of the title is the Harvard University Class of 1958. The Class is Erich Segal's 6th novel, published in 1985.

Erich segal novels