The Equation Of Individual And Society, Human Nature And Social Stains

The Human Stain is a novel created by American author Philip Roth in 2000. Itis regarded as one part of Roth's American Trilogy. The novel tells a story of anAfrican America n, who reinvents himself under the disguise of Jewish and fina llyreturns to his true identity with the shattering of the so-called American Dream. Thestory touches upon so ma ny topics like race, mora lity, war and sex, and exposes theloneliness, fragility and dark sides in human nature. With exquisite structure andprofound theme, The Human Stain is not only the mirror of a specific period ofAmerican society but also an anatomy of the common"human stains".This thesis ma inly covers two parts. One is the discussion of the theme, which ispresented in the form of three progressive la yers"Everyone is lonely","Everyone ishypocritica l"and"Everyone is pathetic". The other part deals with some techniquesthe author adopted in this novel, including the reuse of the character NathanZuckerma n, the concept of meta fiction and Roth's irony. The tone of the novel is darkbut the outlook of the thesis is not pessimistic. It concludes that the human stains arenot inborn in nature but are the product of society. The tragedies in the novel not onlybelong to the individ ual characters but also have universa l significa nce. Therefore, akind of huma nitarian understa nding and tolera nce has been invoked towards humannature.