Judaism and Anti-Semitism

One of the major themes in this novel is that of Jewish customs and the importance of the Jewish heritage. This can be seen in Julian's desire to be Jewish, as well as the struggles of Sam and Hephzibah to deal with the fact that they are Jewish. Sam and Julian have been friends and rivals since school, though Julian knows he will never be as clever as Sam, and as Sam was the first Jew that Julian met, Julian feels 'Finkler' is a better name for Jews, and that is what he calls all Jews to take away the stigma associated with the word Jew, though he cannot explain this to Sam. Sam disassociated himself with his Jewish heritage somewhat after his father's death while he was at Oxford. When Julian is attacked, he believes his attacker called him a Jew which, combined with Kimberley...