Suggestions
Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.Please wait while we process your payment
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
Please wait while we process your payment
By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy.
Don’t have an account? Subscribe now
Create Your Account
Sign up for your FREE 7-day trial
Already have an account? Log in
Your Email
Choose Your Plan
Save over 50% with a SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan!
Purchasing SparkNotes PLUS for a group?
Get Annual Plans at a discount when you buy 2 or more!
Price
$24.99 $18.74 /subscription + tax
Subtotal $37.48 + tax
Save 25% on 2-49 accounts
Save 30% on 50-99 accounts
Want 100 or more? Contact us for a customized plan.
Your Plan
Payment Details
Payment Summary
SparkNotes Plus
You'll be billed after your free trial ends.
7-Day Free Trial
Not Applicable
Renews March 28, 2023 March 21, 2023
Discounts (applied to next billing)
DUE NOW
US $0.00
SNPLUSROCKS20 | 20% Discount
This is not a valid promo code.
Discount Code (one code per order)
SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. The free trial period is the first 7 days of your subscription. TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at custserv@bn.com. Your subscription will continue automatically once the free trial period is over. Free trial is available to new customers only.
Choose Your Plan
Payment Details
Payment Summary
For the next 7 days, you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more!
You’ve successfully purchased a group discount. Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. You'll also receive an email with the link.
Members will be prompted to log in or create an account to redeem their group membership.
Thanks for creating a SparkNotes account! Continue to start your free trial.
Please wait while we process your payment
Your PLUS subscription has expired
Please wait while we process your payment
Please wait while we process your payment
The symbol of pure science throughout the novel, Max Gottlieb stands out as Martin's greatest mentor in the novel, and yet, Gottlieb remains one of the saddest as well. Gottlieb is a German Jew, dedicated to the practice of research, a practice that he illustrates with the utmost patience, diligence, and belief. He is seen as an eccentric and is talked about in gossip rings everywhere he turns. He is, of course, German, and in the early twentieth century Americans believed that most "true scientific" research, at least that which was of great importance, came from Germany. Lewis makes Gottlieb German for this reason and also for the reason that it places him as an "outsider" of the utmost extreme, completely lacking a place in society. Gottlieb does not fit into the medical world because he believes in perfection and is angered by mediocrity and commercialism. Lewis adds to this the fact that he is not only European, but German in the middle of a wave of American anti-German sentiment from World War I. And, not only is he German but he is a Jew, always an "outsider," expelled from this place and that.
And thus, Gottlieb is the eccentric scientist with the cold heart except that he is not altogether cold, for he does love Martin in his own way, just as he loves his daughter, Miriam, and had come to depend on his wife. And yet, it is important to realize that there is a certain coldness in Gottlieb's aloneness. He is a lonely man who is destined to be unhappy. Life hands him miseries and though he has made important discoveries, he remains somewhat unappreciated. And, finally, he ends a senile old man. His genius is eradicated from him through a sad senility, and he is left with nothing except his daughter's undying care.
We may ask what it is that Lewis is trying to say by painting such a dim portrait. Perhaps he is saying that the scientist is doomed to failure, perhaps he is saying that extremes do not work and that Martin needs to find a balance. Perhaps he is simply romanticizing the self-sacrifice of the "truth seeker." Or, perhaps Lewis had to simply remove Gottlieb from the narrative so that Martin could be truly free. It seems that all these things are true.
Please wait while we process your payment