On The Factors Of Self-construction In The Human Stain

The Human Stain is a novel awarded the PEN/Faulkner Award and the United Kingdom’s WH Smith Literary Award.It is the third of the Philip Roth’s postwar novels that takes on large social themes,which is occupied with complicated human relationship and intricate emotion of characters during the period of President Bill Clinton’s sex scandal in America.In fact,the story begins with a charge of racism against a professor of classics,who turns out to be an African American passing as a Jewish intellectual.At present,the focus of the study on The Human Stain mainly covers the following aspects: the history of racial discrimination,the dilemma of ethnic identity,as well as literary influence and narrative method,etc.Obviously,an exclusive study on the factors of self-construction in The Human Stain has not been attempted.However,as Timothy Parrish puts it: “Roth’s work resonates through American culture because he demands that his readers pursue the kinds of self-invention,the endless remakings,that define both Roth’s characters and his own identity as an author”.So,the issue of “self-construction” is one of the concerns of Roth’s writing.Therefore,the direction of this thesis is to study factors that influence self-construction in The Human Stain.In order to reconstruct our understanding of self-construction and its causes,to provide a theory of “self-construction” in understanding the problems and prospects of the person in American society,I have sought to convey my ideas on the factors of self-construction in this thesis as follows: At first,in Introduction,I review some thoughts about “self” and “self-construction” in western history,and the study on Philip Roth at home and abroad.Then in Chapter I,I analyzes the influence of social environment upon self-construction,including racial discrimination,political movement and family factors.In Chapter II,I analyze the influence of social ethics on self-construction,including Puritan complex and sexual ethics.As has been emphasized by many critics and thinkers,self-consciousness arises from our reaction to recognition by others.Therefore,self-construction can not be separated from social environment and social ethics.After that,in Chapter III I analyze the influence of liberalism upon self-construction.This chapter will explain how characters become the persons they are.Because social environment and ethics are unavoidable constraints on “self-construction”,the purpose of self-construction is to set the “self” free from the above painful constraints.All together,by using methods of text analysis and theoretical demonstration,this thesis on the one hand,analyzes the negative factors on self-construction;on the other hand,it analyzes the positive factors of self-construction,in order to achieve the goal of dialectical understanding of the causes of self-construction.Finally,through the analysis of factors of self-construction,we are able to grasp the processes and forms of self-construction,to account for changes and development in self-construction in more detail.