The Quest For The Being In The Other

Call It Sleep, the classic works of American Jewish Writer Henry Roth, is concerning about the psychological growth and the identity construction of a Jewish immigrant boy. This thesis utilizes Lacan‘s subject theory to research into the protagonist, David‘s identity construction.Firstly, from the scope of the imaginary order, it discusses David‘s ego formation as his parents, the two ideal imagoes by the aid of the concept of Lacanian ―ideal mirror imago‖. This formation of the ego as a Jew with the treacherous willing establishes the psychological direction of David‘s identity exploration in the symbolic order.Secondly, from the scope of the symbolic order, it studies David‘s choice and construction of identity by the aid of the concept of Lacanian ―Name of Father‖ whose function is taking the preceding setting for the subject. This determines that either in the Jewish culture or in the Christian culture, David‘s identity is located as a ―sinful‖ Jew. It then points that the otherness of the subject‘s desire determines that it is a wasted effort for David to abject the Jewish culture and spare no effects to identify with the Christian culture.Thirdly, from the scope of the real order, it focuses on David‘s death drive resulting from the failure of the identity construction in the symbolic order by the use of Lacanian concept of ―Jouissance‖. In the integral relationship with mother in the real order, David gets rid of the existential paradox temporarily; however, the doctor and the policeman who are the symbol of America power save him from the stupor. It seems that being a successful American is the solution for David to cast off his identity paradox.David experiences his identity construction from a ―Jew with the treacherous willing‖ to an ―alienated Jew‖, then to an American. And the identity construction course has not yet finished at the end of the novel. It can make the conclusion that firstly, compared to the passionate ode of the assimilation in American society by the other Jewish writers in the same era, Call It Sleep is in the vanguard of paying attention to the psychological agony and the spiritual torture of the Jewish immigrant‘ identity construction course. Secondly, by the aid of Lacanian subject theory, it can make the conclusion that the protagonist‘s identity construction is always impacted by the other, especially the powerful cultural Other. Thirdly, through the creation of Call It Sleep, Roth represents his complicated view about the identity predicament, on way side, Roth considers that the unique way to overcome the Jews‘ identity predicament is to assimilate into American society, on the other side, the open ending of the protagonist‘s identity construction in the end of the novel and the distressed emotion that is expressed by the protagonist all indicate that the course of Jews‘ assimilation in America will be full of tortuous and frustration.