An Analysis Of The Alienation Theme In The Gravedigger’’s Daughter

Joyce Carol Oates is one of the most prolific and influential contemporary American writers, whose works have diverse styles, and profound themes. The Gravedigger’s Daughter, which was published in 2007, narrates the frustrated life-long story of German Jewish immigrant Rebecca Schwart, and presents the process of alienation of Jewish immigrants in American society with the Schwart family as an epitome.This thesis employs German psychologist and philosopher Erich Fromm’s theory of alienation of human nature to analyze the alienation theme of The Gravedigger’s Daughter. Using Fromm’s philosophical interpretation of alienated humanity and insane social psychology, this paper interprets the Schwart family’s alienation in political, economical and spiritual domains respectively. The analysis demonstrates that the depressed circumstances of contemporary American society results in first the alienation between the Schwart family and the society which they belong to, and then the alienation of the interpersonal relationships within their family; because of the double pressure brought about by society and family, the main characters as individuals become isolated, desperate and gradually alienated with self gradually.