An Interpretation Of American Pastoral From The Perspective Of Existentialism

Philip Roth, one of the most important contemporary American Jewish writers, has a profound influence on American literature. The novel American Pastoral, which is one of Roth's American Trilogy and the fifth one in his series on the writer Nathan Zuckerman, won him the Pulitzer Prize in 1998. Some critics have claimed it as a novel with the most in-depth thought among all his books.American Pastoral tells a story mainly about the existence experience and the living condition of the four-generation Jewish immigrants in America and also the dilemma of the Jew and the WASPs in the modern world. It expresses Roth's ultimate concern over the mankind and thus his thoughts about existence. In the novel, Roth depicts post-war America as a chaotic and irrational one and life is absurd and meaningless. The American Jewry, as an alien in America, has a feeling of alienation and loneliness. In order to eradicate alienation and loneliness, some Jews try to shake off their Jewish identity, desert the Jewish tradition and even abandon the Judaism and Christianity. They continuously deny their identity, tradition and religion, but they cannot melt themselves into the American mainstream. So they have a feeing of anxiety and their lives carry a tendency of nothingness. To escape the dilemma, these Jews choose bad faith. Despite this, the dilemma still exists and suffocation and frustration haunt them. In American Pastoral, the WASPs have the similar experience which the Jews do. So the dilemma that Roth has shown attains a general meaning.The famous French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre's existentialism explores the existence condition and dilemma and the main concepts are absurdity, alienation, loneliness, anxiety, nothingness, bad faith and so on. So the thoughts revealed in the novel are in accordance with them. Both Roth and Sartre show that existence is meaningless and life is full of desperation. Meanwhile they think that meaning and hope do exist and man lives with a trace of hope.This thesis attempts to interpret American Pastoral from the perspective of existentialism. And it consists of three chapters. Chapter One focuses on the absurdity of the modern world. It is analyzed from three aspects: chaos and disorder in America, alienation and loneliness of American Jews, anxiety and fear of American Jews.Chapter Two explores nihility of the Jewish existence. Nihility surrounds man in an absurd world so man can only face it. This chapter also consists of three divisions: nothingness of identity, uncertainty of beliefs and desertion of tradition.Chapter Three involves mainly bad faith. Bad faith is not a normal existential mode. It can have man forget anxiety and pain temporarily. But later it brings suffocation and frustration, making man more tortured.The conclusion of the thesis is reached based upon the three chapters above. In American Pastoral, since the Diaspora the Jews have sought the existence in an alien country like homeless strangers, undergoing various kinds of dilemmas, so do the American Jews. Even the WASPs have the similar dilemma. Roth manifests his concern over not only the Jewish experience and the existence of WASPs but also the human existence condition and dilemma. And it demonstrates his return to Jewishness and his humanistic spirit.