A Study Of The Political Writing In The Book Of Daniel

In the Cold War Years,American society was trapped in a nation-wide depression.Influenced by the domestic and international policies,every American citizen was thrown into the danger of the “red terror”.E.L.Doctorow’s The Book of Daniel exposed artistically the political realities of his years.Doctorow once said that The Book of Daniel is not simply a political propaganda pamphlet,but a fictional novel that combines aesthetics and politics.This thesis combs the textual embodiment of the Cold War politics,anti-war politics and minority politics in the novel.Based on the Rosenberg case,The Book of Daniel features a fictional Isaacson family,with Daniel as the narrator,telling the history of the family in the political landscape of that era.Through his portrayal of the life of the Isaacson family,Doctorow attempts to reveal that the American Cold War politics has extended from the political struggle between countries to the daily life of ordinary people in the United States,causing irreversible injury on the lives of the ordinary people.And his depiction of the inner workings of the characters reveals the disillusionment of ordinary Americans and their resistance against American political suppression.The fusion of history and fiction is one of the characteristics of this novel and its use of collage-style writing suggests the infinite extension of the Cold War politics,and shows the author’s criticism of the dark politics of the Cold War.Besides,the novel also describes the psychological changes and the behavior of the New Left,as well as their resistance against American hegemony in the guise of the Vietnam War.Doctorow’s concern for American minorities is also reflected in his description of Daniel’s family.The fate of the Jewish family reflects the identity politics of American minorities in the 1960 s.And Doctorow,through the description of the Isaacson family’s perception of their Jewish identity and their problematic survival in American society,tried to explore the difficulties the Jews had to overcome in order to survive in the “melting pot” of the United States,and expresses Doctorow’s political sympathy and humanistic care for the Jewish nation,which is Doctorow’s way of writing about the issue of identity politics of American minorities.Doctorow describes the changes of American politics in a special period,and the novel contains rich political reality,which makes the political nature of “Daniel” obvious.Political turmoil is not unprovoked,and only the existence of problems will lead to turmoil.The spontaneous movement of the people is a manifestation of their dissatisfaction,and it is also a side projection of the unfair decision-making of the government.The overal purpose of this thesis is to explore E.L.Doctorow’s political attitude towards various social problems during the Cold War by analyzing the political writing in the novel,and at the same time,to portray the tragic fate of the people under the shadow of American society during the Cold War.