From Illusion To Disillusion

Philip Milton, Roth, is the third generation of European Jews who were part ofthe nineteenth-century wave of immigration to the United States. He is regarded asone of the most influential writers in American literature. As the most importantrepresentative writer of the third generation in Jewish American Literature, hiscreation to a great extent represents the important achievement of the serious literaturein America in recent years.The Human Stain is one of the"American Trilogy"and is published in 2000. It talks about Coleman Silk, a self-invented professor, who is born into a black familyand chooses to call himself white and Jew but is doomed to be a failure in an illusive American society. There are many causes which lead to Coleman's destruction anddeath, including social reality, historical environment, etc. However, his inner personal character is also a deadly factor. By means of Archetypal criticism foundedby the Canadian literary critic Northrop Frye and through analyzing the tragic fate and character, the thesis aims to afford a new perspective for us to understand Colemanand other characters'inescapable failure and destruction. The whole thesis comprises of five parts: Introduction, Chapter One, Chapter Two,Chapter Three, and Conclusionin which the body is from Chapter One to Chapter Three.Chapter One will give an overview on the setting, Athena College, which is anepitome of the hypocritical American social reality, advocates an illusive American dream. In Chapter Two it is found that Coleman Silk seems to be forced by a kind ofrage, which is the internal cause resulting in this tragedy. And just like Oedipus, he isdoomed to be a failure and even be destructed at last. In Chapter Three, the thesis will focus on the tragic theme, the illusive American Dream, which indicates thecharacter's inescapable fate.