Anxiety:A Thematic Study Of The Plot Against America

The Plot against America is set in the 1940s,when the international fascism and anti-Semitism were gaining the momentum.In such a context,Philip Roth fictionalizes an intrigue which is masterminded by the American public and takes aim at overthrowing the American Creed the Americans have been championing since the nation's foundation.In the novel,the American Jews suffer from uncertainty and the sense of helplessness,thereby triggering profound anxiety.To unravel the true intention of Roth's setting The Plot in the 1940s,this thesis takes the protagonist Philip 's anxiety as a representative case study,and expounds the manifestations,causes and occasions of his anxiety and its resolution.This thesis is composed of the introduction,the conclusion and four chapters.Chapter One briefs the theoretical framework of this thesis,i.e.Rollo May's anxiety theory.May explores the essence of anxiety and regards it as an affect cued off when values one identifies with his existence are threatened.When suffering from the neurotic anxiety,one has usually experienced the inner conflict,that is,the contradiction in and between values.In accordance with May's discussion of anxiety symptoms,Chapter Two enumerates Philip's anxiety symptoms from the unconscious level,and the behavioral as well as the psychosomatic levels and classifies Philip's anxiety as a neurotic one.Chapter Three explores the causes and occasions leading to Philip's neurotic anxiety.This thesis attributes the cause to the contradiction between Philip's Americanness and Jewishness,and considers the occasions to be anti-Semitism around the world and in the United States,as well as Philip's failing identification with the Jewish family value.Chapter Four mainly deals with the alleviation of Philip's anxiety.When the Jewish family value and the American Creed are reconstructed and restored respectively,Philip's anxiety is relieved.