An American Tragedy

The Human Stain is the last work of Roth's American Trilogy, describing the passing life of a self-invented African-American, exposing that the conflict between the individual and external world is eternal and individuals' seeking for the American dream will be hindered, criticizing the illusive American dream which punishes people who practice this dream, and at length pointing out that political correctness is the seedbed of hypocrisy, and real and absolute freedom does not exist.This thesis analyzes the construction of the ostensive and covert theme and explores the tragic factors acting in subliming the covert theme. Respectively through analyzing different positions of Coleman, Faunia and Delphine in political correctness, this thesis exposes its influence on American freedom, and meanwhile through investigating Coleman's self-invention, it manifests the illusive American dream: the self-invented man is doomed to be betrayed.