On Portnoy's Identity Problem And Ethical Predicaments In Portnoy's Complaint

In the contemporary American literature of the late 20th century,Philip Roth(1933-2018)is one of the most imaginative and profound writers.His unique writing styles and prolific creations have earned him numerous honors and compliments.With his strong self-awareness and great interest in history as well as culture,Roth aspires to purely express himself.He is also famous for his incisive thought and sophisticated language,which both set a high standard for his readers.During Roth's writing career,the publication of Portnoy's Complaint not ouly brings him high literary admiration,but it also helps him make a huge success in business.In this novel,Roth portrays a young Jewish American who is deeply trapped into the ethical predicaments by using a monologue.Superficially,the novel is full of obscenity and contempt.While it actually reveals the pressure and contradictions that Jewish Americans are dealing with in 1960s.Roth makes a vivid description of Portnoy's imbalance in mentality and behavior,which exactly implies Portnoy's struggling in the ethical predicaments.To some extent,it suggests Roth,s ethical conceem about Jewish Americans and his pursuit of human nature.On the basis of text perusal,the thesis takes Portnoy's Complaint as a research object and analyzes it in the perspective of ethical literary criticism.The thesis mainly focuses on the protagonist's ethical predicaments.The analysis of Portnoy's ethical confusion in the process of constructing ethical identity is also included.Then it discusses the protagonist,s ethical choice,and probes into its profound value in ethics as well as in reality.This thesis consists of five parts.Chapter One is the introduction part.It makes a brief illustration of Philip Roth?s life and works.What,s more,it comments on the research on Roth,s works both at home and abroad.Then it points out the significance of the research topic and the overall structure of it.Chapter Two analyzes Portnoy's ethical identity confusion.From the perspective of ethical literary criticism,all of the ethical questions have resulted from the ethical identity.In Portnoy's Complaint,Portnoy seems to fall into deep ethical identity confusion.His efforts to search for his self-identity eventually lead to his ethical predicaments.This chapter explains Portnoy's confusion over his ethical identity and the reasons for it in terms of Jewish identity and gender identity.Chapter three focuses on Portnoy's ethical predicaments.Ethical predicament refers to the unsolvable conflicts or contradictions caused by ethical confusion.In Portnoy's Complaint,he finds it difficult to find the suitable morality and norms,which later gives rise to his ethical predicaments.The chapter probes into Portnoy's confusion over ethical values in family and marriage combined with the literary text.Chapter Four is about Portnoy's ethical choice.Being trapped in ethical predicaments,Portnoy has to make an ethical choice.However,the American social reality in the ethical context and the limitations of Portnoy's personality disorder make this selection even harder.Fortunately,the human nature in Portnoy drives him to stick to goodwill and reassert rationality.Portnoy is destined to walk out of the ethical predicaments with the usher of human nature.This chapter disserts Portnoy's difficult ethical choice by using the theories and strategies of ethical literary criticism.Chapter Five is the conclusion part.It indicates that Portnoy's ethical predicaments are mainly rooted in his identity confusion merged in the construction of his ethical identity.Due to the limitations of that age and Portnoy's personality disorder,escape is the only way out when the ethical choice is to make.But it seems to be possible to get out of the ethical predicaments since there is hope on human nature in Portnoy.All in all,Philip Roth fully deserves to be listed in one of the greatest writers in American literature.What his writings truly concentrate on is not just Jewish people or New Jersey,but human nature.The ethical value of this novel lies in the fact that human nature is what we can count on as a human being and it will surely bring us hope.