An Analysis Of Identity Crisis Of Main Characters In The Human Stain-from The Perspective Of Discourse Of Power

Philip Roth is considered to be one of the most eminent writers in Americanliterature and the most competitive nominee for Nobel Prize in literature. He hasaccomplished nearly all the important awards. In Roth’s works, the protagonists arealways set as Jews, through the description of whose lives the survival predicamentand their states of confusion are reflected. Among his works, The Human Stain (2000)won numerous awards and was strongly recommended by many media and critics.The essay aims to take the main characters in the novel as research subjects, throughthe study of whom the source of the tragic fates of these characters and identity crisisthese marginal characters are doomed to confronting in a society where the whitecontrol discursive power are revealed by means of power/discourse theory putforward by Michel Foucault. The essay is divided into the following five sections.A brief introduction of power discourse theory of Faucault and the definition ofidentity are given respectively in the first chapter. The categorical methodology ofidentity of Stuart Hall, namely cultural identity and gender identity are adopted toindicate how power/discourse and identity crisis are connected.In the second chapter, the Foucauldian interpretation of the black people,Coleman and Herb is given on their identity crisis they undergo under the invisiblecontrol of power discourse. Biopower put forward by Foucault is applied to implicatethe source of racial discrimination so as to explain the inevitability of ethnicescapement of Coleman. The panopticon theory is also adopted to denote the rootcause of Herb’s betrayal of Coleman to indicate the survival predicament of blackpeople in a white-dominated society.The third chapter points out the two main female characters, Faunia who lives atthe bottom of social class and Delphine who is the intellectual elite from other culture.Through the analysis of gender identity of Faunia and cultural identity as well asgender identity of Delphine, the fact that females, weak or strong, can’t escape fromthe tragic destiny is revealed. Females have to experience ineluctable identity crisesbrought about by the sexual difference and cultural difference which are caused bysexism and racism respectively. The fourth chapter discusses the issue of sexuality which can be seeneverywhere in the book. The author aims to reveal how sexuality regarded as anabsolute taboo in modern society was unscrupulously and wantonly discussed underthe manipulation of power discourse, by means of which demonstrates how peopleencounter identity crisis due to inconsistence of thought and behavior under theinfluence of power discourse.The conclusion reasserts the theme of the essay: people can’t escape from goingthrough identity crisis and its subsequent fate of disillusionment despite theircountless efforts to cater for the demands and norms of such a society filled withhypocritical ethical standard, racial discrimination and inequity of different genders.