Previous
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR)
Seldon is a young boy Philip’s age who lives in the apartment downstairs from the Roth family in their multi-family house in Newark. Seldon is an awkward, nerdish boy who loves playing chess and who adores and admires Philip—much to Philip’s chagrin. Philip finds Seldon so odious that he actually asks his Aunt Evelyn to move Seldon and his widowed mother to Kentucky as part of the Homestead 42 program instead of their own family—though he is horrified when he finds that his request comes to pass. Seldon and his mother live in the rural Danville, Kentucky for only a short while before anti-Semitic riots break out across the Midwest. Mrs. Wishnow is killed, Seldon is orphaned, and it is up to the Roths to collect him from the middle of nowhere and take him in to live with them back in Newark. Seldon is an important figure in the novel because he forces Philip to examine his worst impulses. Philip steals from Seldon, treats playing with him like a chore, and rebuffs him at every chance he gets—yet because of Philip’s own actions to try and push Seldon away, Seldon winds up sharing a room with Philip for nearly a year, during which time Philip finds himself caring intimately for his bereaved schoolmate. The neurotic, talkative Seldon provides much of the novel’s comic relief in spite of his status as a tragic figure.
Seldon Wishnow Quotes in The Plot Against America
The The Plot Against America quotes below are all either spoken by Seldon Wishnow or refer to Seldon Wishnow. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 9 Quotes
My father was a rescuer and orphans were his specialty. A displacement even greater than having to move to Union or to leave for Kentucky was to lose one’s parents and be orphaned. Witness, he would tell you, what had happened to Alvin. Witness what had happened to his sister-in-law after Grandma had died. No one should be motherless and fatherless. Motherless and fatherless you are vulnerable to manipulation, to influences—you are rootless and you are vulnerable to everything.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
This was how Seldon came to live with us. After their safe return to Newark from Kentucky, Sandy moved into the sun parlor and Seldon took over where Alvin and Aunt Evelyn had left off—as the person in the twin bed next to mine shattered by the malicious indignities of Lindbergh’s America. There was no stump for me to care for this time. The boy himself was the stump, and until he was taken to live with his mother’s married sister in Brooklyn ten months later, I was the prosthesis.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Plot Against America LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
Seldon Wishnow Character Timeline in The Plot Against America
The timeline below shows where the character Seldon Wishnow appears in The Plot Against America. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 4: The Stump
...Roths sometimes bring food over to the Wishnows—and Philip often gets roped into playing with Seldon, a chess-loving, nerdish schoolmate of his.
(full context)
Chapter 5: Never Before
...them, he learns that Mr. Wishnow is dead—he has hung himself in his closet, and Seldon was the one who found the body. The kids report that the body has not...
(full context)
After dinner, Bess and Herman take food to Mrs. Wishnow and Seldon. Philip tells Sandy the rumor he heard about Mr. Wishnow having committed suicide. Sandy is...
(full context)
...for her. They go down to the Wishnows’ and ask if they’ve seen Bess, but Seldon and Mrs. Wishnow say they haven’t. Philip’s aversion to Seldon is worse than ever—he avoids...
(full context)
Chapter 6: Their Country
...coldly tells Philip that there’s nothing to be afraid of in Kentucky. Philip asks if Seldon and Mrs. Wishnow can go instead, and Evelyn again asks if someone has put him...
(full context)
...from the White House dinner. She gives him one for Sandy, too, then asks what Seldon’s last name is. Philip tells her. Evelyn asks if Seldon is his best friend. Philip,...
(full context)
...group of concerned Jewish MetLife agents and their wives. Mrs. Wishnow drops Philip, Sandy, and Seldon off at a movie theater in the next town over. The group of adults—most of...
(full context)
Sitting in the movie with Seldon, Philip dreads the move to Kentucky even more intensely—he knows that Seldon will likely be...
(full context)
Seldon is perplexed and distressed by the loss of his clothing. Bess, who has heard what’s...
(full context)
When Philip, Sandy, and Seldon return home from the movies, they enjoy leftover deli sandwiches from the meeting and listen...
(full context)
...home. He descends to the cellar, opens up the suitcase, and changes into some of Seldon’s clothes. He feels determined to resist the “disaster” which has swept up his friends and...
(full context)
...was kicked by a horse while walking through the orphanage grounds. Bess tells him that Seldon heard Philip sneaking out of the house and followed him down the street and onto...
(full context)
Chapter 7: The Winchell Riots
...which the Roths’ lives have changed astounds Philip—as does the fact that on September 1st, Seldon and his mother are due to move to Danville Kentucky.
(full context)
...at all. Sandy begins hanging out with tons of girls his age while Philip and Seldon, attached at the hip much to Philip’s chagrin, look on in awe. Sandy often takes...
(full context)
On the day Seldon and Mrs. Wishnow leave, Philip is shocked by his sadness and pain as they go....
(full context)
...and makes a long-distance call—still an amazing feat at that time—to the Wishnows. It is Seldon who answers the phone—he states that his mother is not home from work yet and...
(full context)
Philip asks Seldon if he knows that Walter Winchell is dead. Seldon asks if Walter Winchell is Philip’s...
(full context)
Chapter 9: Perpetual Fear
...taken on a strange, eerie feeling. The phone rings at 10 o’clock at night—it is Seldon Wishnow on the other end, sobbing. He declares that his mother is not home from...
(full context)
Seldon weeps to Bess, telling her that his mother must be dead—if she were alive, she...
(full context)
Bess tells Seldon to eat something in order to calm down. She urges Seldon to put the phone...
(full context)
...little boy who’s home alone in Danville. The Mawhinneys agree to go to Danville, pick Seldon up, and bring him home. Philip is amazed by his mother’s quickness and efficiency in...
(full context)
Bess calls Seldon back and instructs him to pack up his toothbrush, pajamas, and a change of clothes,...
(full context)
...the days to follow, as Herman and Sandy drive out to Kentucky to scoop up Seldon and bring him home to live with them—is that he is responsible for Mrs. Wishnow’s...
(full context)
...downstairs. Aloud, he tells the “ghost” that he is sorry for his part in sending Seldon away. From the darkness, a woman’s voice replies that she knows the truth—it is Aunt...
(full context)
...before turning right back around. Herman’s stitches from his fight with Alvin are infected, and Seldon is sick and feverish in the backseat. The trip back takes three times as long...
(full context)
Calling a tow truck—and seeking medical help for Seldon—is fraught business, as Herman and Sandy are terrified that the country folks they encounter on...
(full context)
After returning from Kentucky, Seldon comes to live with the Roths. Sandy moves into the front room and Seldon takes...
(full context)
