Interpretation And Reflection On The Ethical Predicament In Everyman

Philip Roth is one of the most important Jewish writers in America.His novel Everyman published in 2006 is his masterpiece in his later years.In Everyman,Philip Roth describes the multiple ethical predicaments faced by the protagonist in his life from the third-person narrative perspective,exposing the contradictions and struggles of modern people.The analysis of the multiple ethical predicaments faced by the protagonist is the key to understanding this novel.On the basis of close reading of the text,this thesis applies ethical literary criticism as the main criticism method to analyze the ethical predicaments of the protagonist and the causes of these predicaments from the perspective of family ethics,racial ethics and life ethics in order to understand Philip Roth’s ethical thoughts conveyed in Everyman.This thesis consists of five parts.The part of introduction briefly introduces Philip Roth and Everyman,and sorts out the current researches of Everyman at home and abroad.This part ends with this thesis’ theoretical methods,central arguments and research significance used in this thesis.Chapters one to three are the main part of this thesis.The first chapter starts from the family ethics and first analyzes the family ethical environment in which the novel is located.The traditional Jewish family ethics and the change of American family concepts have affected the protagonist’s family ethics consciousness.Then it analyzes the protagonist’s destruction of family ethical order and his departure from his multiple family ethical identities under the control of irrational will.The second chapter analyzes the ethnic ethical environment of the novel from the perspective of ethnic ethics.Compared with traditional Jewish culture,mainstream American culture has a more profound influence on the protagonist.The protagonist violates the Jewish ethical order,deviates from Jewish tradition,and gives up the Jewish faith and the study of Yiddish,which leads to the loss of the protagonist’s ethical identity.The third chapter focuses on the life ethics of the novel.First,it analyzes the traditional Jewish view of life and death embodied in the novel.Then it analyzes the distortion of the protagonist’s life view in the materialistic American ethical environment.The protagonist finally reexamines the meaning and significance of life after experiencing serious illnesses and witnessing many deaths.The last part is the conclusion part.This part summarizes the structure and content of this thesis,and concludes the thoughts expressed by Philip Roth on family ethics,ethnic ethics and life ethics in Everyman.In his later years,Philip Roth expresses his thoughts about family,ethnic and life by means of depicting the life experience of a common person,and at the same time expresses his reflection on the current situation of the society.