The Loss Of The Self-identity

Philip(Milton)Roth(1933—),Jewish-American novelist,short story writer,essayist,and critic,is a prominent and controversial figure in contemporary American letters.Philip Roth draws heavily upon the growing surroundings of his Jewish traditional culture and his personal life to explore his predominant concerns-the searches for the problems about the self-identity,the conflicts between traditional and contemporary moral values,and the relationship between two generations.In his early works,there are many depictions of scatological contents including sex,violence,conflict and his satiric portraits about Jewish traditional life.However,in his later works,he begins to focus upon the individual's searches about Jewish tradition and identity.So American Pastoral is just the turning point.American Pastoral won the Pulitzer Prize in 1998.Since then American Pastoral have been received heated debate comprehensively.Some critics review American Pastoral from the perspective of the Jewish topics and satirical art,and others comment from the conflicts between traditional and contemporary moral values and the disillusion of American Dream.The paper will explore Merry Levov's loss of the self-identity from the middle class of the superior life to the radical and suspected killer based on the Imaginary order and the Symbolic order of the Lacan's psychoanalysis theory.The paper will consist of six chapters.Chapter one will introduce the life of Philip Roth and his major works,but attach importance to his work,American Pastoral.And then the paper will present its significance and structure.Chapter two will introduce the related reviews at home and abroad about American Pastoral.In the light of the texts,the paper will analyze it deeply.Chapter three will explore the foundations of Lacan' s psychoanalysis theory,which include the origin,the development and the main ideas.The paper will further review the definitions of the Imaginary order and the Symbolic order,especially the little other and the big Other.Finally,the paper will elucidate the relationship between Lacan' s psychoanalysis theory and American Pastoral.Chapter four and chapter five are main parts.By using the Imaginary order and the Symbolic order,the paper will deeply analyze the image of the character of Merry Levov,and study the loss of Merry Levov's self-identity from the internal and the external causes.In chapter four,Merry Levov is influenced by the little other-her parents in the Imaginary order.In other words,the construction of the self-identity starts from identifying with the images of her parents in the mirror.But Merry Levov is between the cracks of two kinds of cultures and religions,she can not identify with her parents at the same time.Finally,the image in the mirror is disillusioned.Chapter five will elucidate Merry Levov in the Symbolic order.The Symbolic order has relationship with language and reveals the feelings and cognition to society by using language.Merry Levov,as the social being,suffers from the oppression of the big Other-the Laws and codes of society and race.In the end,Merry Levov conducts herself by the radical method,which leads to lose her self-identity in the cracks.The last chapter is the conclusion.On the basis of the Lacan's psychoanalysis theory,it is not difficult to find that the whole life of the heroine Merry Levov is in depression,confusion and bewilderment by the means of analyzing her image in American Pastoral,and this means that the loss of her self-identity is influenced by the little other and the big Other jointly.In American Pastoral,the confusion of Merry Levov what Philip Roth depicts is typical among the thousands upon thousands of the fourth generation of Jewish Americans.Therefore,Philip Roth tries his best to stimulate concerns about the reconstruction of the Jewish Americans'self-identity by American Pastoral,and makes Jewish Americans reconsider and explore the real self as well as national character.As the loss of the self-identity,It is necessary to reconstruct the self-identity.