The Fall Of Jewish "John F.Kennedy":Investigating "Masculine Mystique" In Philip Roth’s American Pastoral

Philip Roth creates a Jewish “John F.Kennedy” nicknamed Swede in American Pastoral and depicts his downfall in the turbulent post-war American society.This thesis focuses on the pursuit of the ideal masculinity by Swede and his contemporary Jewish American men in the novel and explores how Kennedy’s “masculine mystique”discourse affects the body practices of Jewish men in terms of ethnicity,class,and sexuality.This thesis believes that the male body is not only a tool manipulated by the“masculine mystique” discourse but can also subvert this discourse under specific historical and cultural backgrounds through specific practices in ethnicity,class,and sexuality,reflecting the fluid nature of masculinity.Chapter one explores Jewish men’s body practices of deserting Jewishness and being Americanized under the discipline of Kennedy’s “masculine mystique”.In their active participation in Americanized social practices,these Jewish male bodies behave more feebly than imperfectly-Americanized bodies such as African Americans in the1960 s and 1970 s,which exposes the illusion that regards the Americanized male body as the perfect embodiment of masculinity.Chapter two investigates Jewish men’s body practices of upward social mobility.Kennedy’s masculine myth promotes the male body to break the rules and conventions of the past to achieve social climbing,which leads to the anti-conventional formation of the bourgeoisie male body.This anti-conventional body reveals its limit when facing the anti-everything bodies in the 1960 s and 1970 s,exposing the fragility of the unrestrained body’s pursuit of social status.Chapter three focuses on Jewish American men’s liberation of their bodies in terms of sexuality.In accordance with Kennedy’s masculine idealization of male sexuality,machismo is exemplified through the pursuit of sexual conquests.However,during the administrations of Lyndon B.Johnson and Richard Nixon,due to ethical transgressions,apprehension towards female sexual empowerment,and the inevitable effects of aging,the effectiveness and value of the unbridled sexual practices of Jewish men gradually diminished.Ultimately,this led to the loss of sexual ability in Jewish men,exposing the fallacy of Kennedy’s masculine rhetoric regarding sexuality.In conclusion,Kennedy’s “masculine mystique” shapes Jewish men’s bodies in terms of their practices of ethnicity,class,and sexuality,while Jewish male bodies,during the process,resist the tyranny of the discourse by generating actions that are measured as “unmanly” by Kennedy’s masculine standard,which then discloses the falsity of the discourse and shows the fluidity of masculinity.