A Study On Image Of The Alienated In Philip Roth's Works

Philip Milton Roth(1933-2018)is a very important Jewish writer in American literature in the twentieth century.The Jewish and American nature in his works has always been the focus of the researchers,and also a classic topic in Roth's research.Scholars in the explanation of this issue are mainly reflected in two aspects.On the one hand,they argue that as a Jew,Roth expresses the “Love well,whip well” rebellion and transcendence on exposing the outdated and pedantic thoughts in Jewish traditions.On the other hand,they focus on Roth's dream to be a real American in American society and his loss in the desire-filled city after the disillusion of his “American dream”.The value and significance on discussing this problem is not only to explain its position and function in the course of the evolution of Roth's thought,but also more important is to think about the deep reasons behind the difficult position of the repressed dual identity,in order to adapt the discussion to the contemporary cultural context of literary and cultural studies.Therefore,this paper argues that both of them ignored the core reason for Roth's rebellion against the Jewish tradition and his criticism of American culture: the alienation.This paper,therefore,is discussing alienation hidden behind the realistic conflict and spiritual restraint,mainly based on a study of his works“David Allen Kepesh series” and “Zuckerman bound series”,from the perspective of psychological imbalance as the breakthrough.This paper attempts to summarize and analyze the symbolic image of “the alienated” in Roth's literary writings and the author attempts to expand new ways and techniques in study of Roth's works in contemporary research.“The alienated” in this paper especially means the image of the Jewish American middle-class intellectual who has a sense of alienation.The essence of alienation is the psychological and emotional isolation between people because of the lack of communication,which is the self-protection caused by psychological imbalance.Due to distrust,people keep a distance from others in psychology and behavior.In character,they appear suspicious and anxious.So self-protection is formed in social ideology as well.The nature of the alienated in Philip Roth's works is shown their in dilemma.Such people are extraordinarily sensitive and wise so that they overvalue spiritual satisfaction and aesthetic pursuit,but they are not accepted by society and regarded as psychiatric people.There appear three types of Roth's alienated characters who are different from other Jewish intellectuals: they never stop pursuing spiritually but indulged in endless physical satisfaction;some don't feel happy after success and wealth;fame and wealth don't bring pleasure but nervousness,anxiety and pain to them.As a result,they prefer to live lonely.All psychological problems result in their thinking consciousness.They see clearly the problems in reality and human nature,but they can't provide any solution.This out-of-balance dilemma results from society,history and culture.Due to the conflict between Jewish and American culture,Jewish people are in a culturally embarrassed predicament after they come to live in America.What's more,Roth's radical self-consciousness and literary attitude lead to his characters' isolation.Roth's David Allen Kepesh and Nathan Zuckerman,for example,representatives of the alienated of Jewish American bourgeois intellectuals,are alienated out of self-protection.They show that Roth's characters make choice and solution in order to get maximum of self-satisfaction and a steady living situation.The value of research on Roth's alienated characters lies in exposing the social contradiction and cultural conflict in cross-cultural living conditions.The research also explores the alienated's way of thinking and living they choose in order to obtain freedom.Although Roth's solution of living lonely at the edge of a city might not be scientific,nor universal,yet it satisfies his own need socially and spiritually.This paper focuses in the way from internal to external on the alienated images of Phillip Roth's “Kepesh series” and “Zuckerman Bound series”,which is caused by psychological imbalance.The paper demonstrates in detail from six aspects.The first chapter is the theoretical thinking of the issue of alienation.First of all,the paper deals with the definition of the core concept of alienation.Alienation is a kind of realistic situation where people can't leave,nor get close.Alienation is also a psychological feeling when people enter into society or get contact with others.David Kepesh,an alienated professor,or Nathan Zuckerman a writer,are both from the Jewish American middle-class intellectuals,and spokesmen for the alienated figures of Roth's works.The feelings of alienation do not emerge from the air,or the fantasy of Philip Roth,but from the character of protagonists who are born in the intellectuals and the Jewish tradition.From the second chapter to the fourth chapter,the manifestations of alienation due to out-of-balance living conditions are analyzed from the point of man and himself,man and others,man and nation in the novels.The second chapter discusses the alienation of man and himself because of the out-of-balance living between emotion and rationality in the Kepesh series,Jewish professor David Alan Kepesh's bold love and marriage with gentile girls reflects Roth's rebellion against Jewish tradition.Suffering from the recognition of the imbalance of his own desires and rationality,man lost himself in his own desires instead of acquiring continuous pleasure.Fear takes the place of pleasure after carnival experiences.The third chapter discusses that the alienation of man from others leads to the improvement of self-cognition,taking the alienated figures in the Zuckerman series as an example.Nathan Zuckerman,a writer,exposes the Jewish family privacy and subverts the Jewish "saints" image.Thus,other Jewish people regard him as a rebel.But Americans don't accept him,a Jew,as one of them either.What's more,the conflict between father and son actually is the one between new and old thinking.That forms the gap between two generations.The fourth chapter discusses the alienation of the Jewish people as a nation and other ethnic groups,which leads to escaping tendency of these people.Yet their Jewish identity mark cannot be ignored and erased.The national diaspora has become the psychological shadow of every Jew,thus loneliness is born and rooted.The everlasting anti-Semitism prevents them from intermingling with other nations,even when they are eager to.After the alienated grow into a learned and thoughtful scholar,this loneliness develops into a sense of alienation from the crowd,the criticism of social events,and contradictions of his own.All of these make him suffer from further anxiety and isolation.The fifth chapter investigates the formation of the image of "alienator" in Jewish literature.Due to continuous conflict between Jewish tradition and the American culture,Jewish Americans are in an embarrassment and uncomfortable situation both in life and in spirit.What's more,Roth's self-consciousness and literary pursuit are different from other Jewish intellectuals,in that it leads to the alienation of his characters.The sixth chapter discusses the deep connotation of alienation.Feelings of alienation caused by psychological imbalance are violent.Confronting psychological imbalance,Roth's characters can't solve the dilemma and they tend to seek self-prevention,the result of which is the choice of alienation.In summary,from the theoretical,manifestation and deep connotation aspects,from the exterior to the interior,this paper shows that Philip Roth's characters are suffering from spiritual torture and are shackled by life;Roth and the Jewish American middle-class intelligentsia as a whole are alienated.Therefore,in the conclusion of this paper,the author reaffirms the way out of the current cultural predicament of the Jewish scholars in Philip Roth's works.That is,the choice of alienation,i.e.self-protection,is a way of self-salvation.