Prejudice Transformed: Arthur Miller's Focus Anonymous College

In Arthur Miller’s 1945 novel Focus, there are many prejudicial attitudes that manifest themselves throughout the action; Miller clearly takes a stance that all of these anti-Semitic views are irrational. The setting of the novel is in mid-1940’s Brooklyn. The main character, Lawrence Newman, works in an office and oversees the secretaries in the office essentially. He is praised by his boss, and everything seems to be going well for Newman until he buys a pair of glasses that seem stereotypically Jewish. Once Newman starts wearing these glasses, his whole world is turned upside down. Newman is anti-Semitic at the beginning of this novel, but this stance changes later on because of all the hardships he endures. Miller says that he thinks the reason people are anti-Semitic is because “they feel in themselves, a not-belonging” (Intro X), and Newman seems to fit this category until the end, when he sheds his cultural fears.

When Newman is first introduced in the novel, he is single, living with his mother, and has no real friends to speak of which leaves him very alone with only his thoughts. These thoughts leave him with nothing to do other than question his inadequacy. Newman worries about every little mistake that can be made...