Tragedies Of Contemporary Jewish American Dream

Philip Roth (1933- ) is one of the most influential contemporary Jewish American writers. Each of his works has made a tremendous stir in the public of letters. By the end of 20th century, Roth has published his American Trilogy, that is, American Pastoral (1997), I Married a Communist (1998) and The Human Stain (2000). As a systematic and coherent entirety, the"American Trilogy"presents readers a panorama of contemporary American society.American dream is a subject run through the development of American literature. In the trilogy, Roth writes the individual tragedy of contemporary Jewish American dream into the society and history, and by doing so he illustrates the living state of the Jews and the complex changes and contradictions of contemporary American society and culture. Through thoroughpaced and careful reading of the text, the author combines the America's political, social and cultural backgrounds to probe into the significance of his works from the perspective of American dream.As Jewish-Americans, the protagonists, Seymour, Ira and Coleman all devote themselves to pursuing their own American dreams. Though their dreams are different in content and form, the essence is the same. They want to assimilate into American mainstream society by their efforts, and find an ideal American existence. However, they are all tragic heroes who cherish a wonderful American dream, destined to end in tragedy. The tragedies of American dream are the tragedies of society and times rather than those of personal character. Their tragic fates are attributed to the Counterculture Movement in the 1960s, McCarthyism in the 1950s and Political Correctness in the 1990s respectively. Due to the contradictions and incongruities in contemporary America, the American dream is doomed to turn into an American nightmare.This thesis consists of six parts. Chapter 1,"Introduction"gives a summary of Roth and his works, and surveys the study of Roth at home and abroad. It also synoptically presents the continuation and evolution of the subject of the American dream in American literature. Chapter 2 deals with the protagonists'American dream respectively. Chapter 3 explores what these tragedies of Jewish American dream come to be. Chapter 4 examines the roots contributed to the American tragedies. Chapter 5 probes into Roth's reflection on the tragedies of American dream. With keen insights into the protagonists'American dream, Roth reveals Jewish people's ambivalent attitude towards the mainstream society and culture as well as American dream's corrupt essence. Roth expresses his attitude of skepticism to American dream, the traditional American value, by means of the trilogy. The last part of the thesis is conclusion. This thesis concludes that through deep discussion on Roth's American Trilogy, the living state of contemporary Jewish Americans, American society, culture, values and Roth's writing tendency of his later works can be easily comprehended.