David Greene Enrols at St.

¶ … David Greene enrols at St. Matthews, he hides the fact that he is Jewish from his classmates out of his fear that anti-Semitism would otherwise make it impossible for him to assimilate normally into the Protestant institution. Greene has already experienced anti-Semitism in his hometown and even before arriving at the St. Matthews campus, he is warned by Coach McDevitt not to divulge his Jewish heritage to his new peers unnecessarily. Almost immediately, Greene overhears overtly anti-Semitic statements that have nothing to do with him, but he decides that to avoid the consequences of the rampant anti-Semitism at the school, he will conceal his Jewish heritage from his classmates as long as possible. His efforts eventually fail and his classmates find out that he is Jewish, after which they immediately begin persecuting and insulting him. After he finds a sign with a swastika reading "Go Home Jew" over his bed, Greene posts a sign challenging the author to meet him face-to-face after dark outside the dormitory. Nobody shows up to take the challenge but all of his classmates watch as Greene waits outside in the rain and eventually calls them all cowards.

It is difficult to argue with the character's choice to conceal his Jewish identity at the school. Greene has already experienced prejudice and hatred based on his heritage and even his father warned him that it was impossible to fight everybody who would dislike him for being Jewish for the rest of his life. It is obvious from Greene's response to anti-Semitism in his hometown that his choice is not the product of fear or cowardice, but merely the only viable option for assimilating successfully in his school community. Greene realizes immediately that his classmates are extremely prejudiced against Jews and that is what he tries to explain to his roommate in response to the suggestion that he was wrong not to divulge his heritage and that it would not have made a difference if he had been honest from the start. Ultimately, anti-Semitism affects Greene in every imaginable way in school and even precipitates his being adjudicated a cheater by his classmates, partly on the inference that Greene is already a confirmed liar for having concealed his Judaism. The problem of anti-Semitism at St. Matthews is not resolved and provides a clear reminder of the struggles faced by many minorities in the United States prior to the Civil Rights Era of the 1960s.