An Elegy Of "Collective Purification"

Scapegoating derives from a sacrificial ritual in ancient Judaism,with significance of primitive atonement.It is recorded in the Old Testament of the Bible that two goats will be sacrificed on the Atonement Day,with one being killed and another being banished into the wild,for purifying the guilt of Jews.Nevertheless,scapegoating has evolved to be a significant source of collective violence in modern context.The Human Stain by Jewish American writer Philip Roth narrates a tragedy bred by the modern scapegoating rite,which composes a elegy of ?collective purification.? This paper examines the scapegoat mechanism behind the ?collective purification? in this novel in the perspectives of René Girard‘s scapegoat theory and ?triangular desire? theory,and of other related theories.The introduction gives a presentation of Philip Roth and his representative novel The Human Stain.Meanwhile,the domestic and foreign researches on Philip Roth and The Human Stain together with the research gap are also introduced.What follows is an overview of the origin and development of the concept ?scapegoat mechanism,? and the evolution of the connotation of scapegoating.In the end of this part,it is pointed out that the scapegoat mechanism in this novel contains three subjects,which are the victims,the victimizers and the spectators.Chapter one scrutinizes how the victims are sacrificed for the ?collective purification.? Victims are those selected as scapegoats in their communities and forced to face the accusation and persecution of the collective for the purpose of purification.This chapter analyzes three different types of scapegoats represented by Coleman and Faunia and expounds the process of picking,accusing and executing the scapegoats,which reveals the deep social causation of the scapegoat mechanism.Chapter two examines the victimizers who are driven by unconscious or conscious motives to seek for ?collective purification.? Victimizer is the subject who advocates ?collective purification,? and takes responsibility of picking,accusing and executing scapegoats.This chapter studies three different sorts of victimizers represented by staff in Athena College,Keble and Lester,so as to comprehensively and penetratingly interpret the psychological mechanism of the victimizers and uncover the interior causation of scapegoat mechanism.Chapter three analyzes the spectators‘ exploration to the truth of ?purification.? Spectators are those who witness the operating process of the scapegoat mechanism,distinguish the victims from the victimizers and evaluate on the morality of both.This chapter not only looks into how the narrator Nathan witnesses the failure of ?collective purification? as the ?moral witness? of the novel,but also examines how the writer Philip Roth witnesses the contorted scapegoat mechanism.Through his witnessing,Roth also conveys his praise of the Jewish moral values and explores the resolution path to counteract the scapegoat mechanism,which is to accomplish real purification and self-atonement under the power of nature.Overall,this paper thoroughly excavates and discusses the scapegoat mechanism in The Human Stain.By analyzing the three principal subjects in the scapegoat mechanism and their interplay,this paper construes tragedy of scapegoating and ?collective purification? in the novel.At the same time,this paper also endeavors to investigate the function of scapegoat mechanism in the modern context based on the textual analysis of The Human Stain,as well as exploring and concluding the Jewish moral and religious values of Philip Roth.