A Study On The Jewishness In Henry Roth’s Call It Sleep

Henry Roth is one of the greatest American Jewish writers. His life is full of legendaries. His representative work Call It Sleep is also known as a quintessentially representative of Jewish-American literature, which was firstly published in1934. Under the influence of "Black Thursday", the whole society was then under confusion and anxiety, and that was an era of proletarian literature, therefore the newly emerging writing star and Call It Sleep did not get enough recognition it deserved and their fate underwent dramatic ups and downs. However, after30years, they got a chance of rebirth when the novel was successively published in1964and became "one of the few genuinely distinguished novels written by a20th-century American." The novel tells a growing-up story of a Jewish immigrant David Schearl, the inner struggle and his self-identity. In the novel, there are many scenes that embody the influences of Jewish culture on these Jewish immigrants and it bears the characteristics of Jewishness.There are five chapters in this dissertation:Chapter one gives a brief introduction of Henry Roth and his Call It Sleep and then describes the current researches on the novel in and abroad. Then it introduces the concept of Jewishness as well as a discussion on Roth’s Jewishness.Chapter two explores the Jewishness embodies in the languages of the novel. Since the Jewry is known as "language experts", and as nation with multi-languages, the Jews have created many ethnical languages during their process of development. These representative languages appear in the novel are embodiments of the Jewishness of the novel.Chapter three discusses the Jewishness reflected in the religious beliefs and religious activities in the novel. In all civilizations, Judaism is the least to ignore religion, and Judaism as the national religion of the Jews is the monotheism belongs to all the Jews. In the novel, Judaism reflected in those festivals and the activities is a symbol of protagonists’Jewish identity and beliefs. This is also a facet of the Jewishness.Chapter four uncovers the Jewishness in family relationship and family education. The family relationship and education in the novel are traditionally Jewish, which correctly reflect the Jewishness of the novel.Chapter five concludes the embodiments of Jewishness in language, religion and family relationship, and only to find that a series of symbols perfectly indicate the Jewishness of the novel. Therefore, the conclusion that Call It Sleep is a novel full of Jewishness is finally formed.