An Analysis Of The Themes In American Pastoral From The Perspective Of Sartre’s Existentialism

Philip Roth has been acknowledged as the representative of American Jewish writer. His profound thought makes him become one of the most prominent and distinguished contemporary writers in America. Moreover, many domestic and foreign scholars and experts have paid much attention to him.American pastoral, published in 1997, is one of Philip Roth’s masterpieces and the first one of Roth’s “American Trilogy”. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 1998. American Pastoral is a complex and profound novel, which has far-reaching research value. Previous scholars focus on the analysis of characters and the writing style and so on, the study of the work’s theme is very scarce, therefore this thesis focuses on the novel’s themes. This thesis tries to explore the theme of Roth’s novel American Pastoral from the perspective of Sartre’s existentialism. I believe it must have realistic significance, for example: firstly, I use Sartre’s core idea of “absurdity” “nihility” to examine existential plight and development crisis of the four generations of Seymour’s whole family, and then explored the marginalized social reality of Jewish immigrants in the United States. Secondly, Roth sets the post-war America as its background, then makes a subtle and vivid overview of the American Whites represented by “Orcutt”, finally reveals the absurdity and emptiness of their life. Thirdly, Roth makes a detailed description of characters’ final choice from the perspective of Sartre’s existential thought “self-deception” to provide useful lessons for the Jews and the Whites’ much more meaningful life.The thesis consists of three parts.The first part is introduction, which provides a brief presentation of Philip Roth’s personal biography, literary career, the status of American Pastoral, as well as scholars’ research and review of the work. Then I give a necessary explanation of my research ideas and the realistic significance of my thesis.The second part is the main body of the thesis, which is divided into four chapters.Chapter One introduces existentialism from two aspects including its origin, development. Then it focuses on the overview of the famous French Philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre’s existentialism. In this part, I introduce the origin of Sartre’s existentialism and focus on its core idea of “absurdity” and “nihility”, which is the theoretical framework of this thesis.Chapter Two explores the theme of absurdity in American Pastoral. Roth sets the novel in the background of post-war. In the novel, Roth depicts post-war America as a chaotic and irrational society. As the alien in America, the American Jews have a feeling of alienation and loneliness. Human life is absurd and meaningless. It is analyzed from these aspects: chaos and disorder in America, alienation and loneliness of American Jews, anxiety and fear of American Jews.Chapter Three analyzes another theme—nihility of the Jewish existence. In order to eradicate alienation and loneliness, some Jews try to desert the Jewish tradition and even abandon the Judaism and Christianity to melt into the American mainstream society. They continuously deny their tradition and religion, but they cannot melt themselves into the American mainstream society. So their lives carry a tendency of nihility. Nihility surrounds man in the absurd world so they have to confront with it.Chapter Four involves mainly the reflection of the individuals influenced by the “absurdity” and “nihility” —bad faith. Because of the harsh world and eternal absurdity, mankind is lost in the feeling of empty and anguish. To escape the dilemma, both the American Jews and the American Whites choose the way of bad faith. According to Sartre’s existentialism, bad faith becomes the common failing and phenomena of human beings.The final part is conclusion. Philip Roth’s American Pastoral is a book with special meaning and predominant literary status. In American Pastoral, since the Diaspora the Jews have sought the existence in an alien country like homeless strangers, undergoing various kinds of dilemmas. The American Whites is with no exception. Their meaningless and dull life is inextricably related with the irrational and chaotic social environment. Roth reveals that existence is meaningless and life is full of desperation. Mankind has to choose escaping. Meanwhile he thinks that meaning and hope do exist and man lives with a trace of hope. He stimulates mankind to be positive enough to seek his or her authentic and true life. Roth manifests his concern over not only the Jewish experience and the existence of WASPs but also the human beings’ living condition and existential dilemma. All these demonstrate his humanistic spirit.