A Study On The Identity Transformation Of Three Generations Of Jewish Americans In American Pastoral

Philip Roth is one of the most influential and prominent contemporary Jewish American writers in American literature. His works enjoy great popularity among the American readers. Philip Roth has profound insight into American historical, cultural and political background. His works depict the life of American Jews from different angles, which reflect the long tradition of Jewish literature as well as the features of present American literature.For most Jewish writers in America, they are confronted with the unavoidable problems of ethnic, culture and cultural identity. They are greatly influenced by American culture as well as Jewish culture. Traces of dual culture identity can be found in their works. Philip Roth is no exception. During the early period, he tried to get rid of the influence of Jewish culture in his writings. However, it is obvious that in his later works, such as American Pastoral, he intended to return to his Jewish background according to the description of the living conditions and identity difference of the characters in his novels.In the thesis, the author gives an interpretation of the novel American Pastoral from the perspective of cultural identity, analyzes the identity transformation of three generations in an American Jewish family, and explores Philip Roth’s understanding and constructing of cultural identity.The thesis is made up of six parts. The introduction part gives a short introduction to Philip Roth and American Pastoral, sums up the studies on his works at home and abroad which offers the readers a bird’s eye view of the previous studies, and provides the concept of cultural identity. The first chapter analyzes the cultural identity of the three generations separately. Chapter Two, Chapter Three and Chapter Four separately focus on the ways, reasons and results of the identity transformation of Jewish Americans. On the basis of the analyses in the above chapters, the last part draws the conclusion that the interpretation and exploration of cultural identity of literary images in the novel is one of the most important themes in the works of American Jewish writer Philip Roth. Cultural identity is not completely fixed and static. It is a process of self-constructing in certain society and history environment. The cultural identity of Jews in America is in the process of transformation. No matter what a subject’s identity is, Jewish or American, the cultural identity is greatly influenced by the historical and social background.