Dilemma Of Survival Of The American Jewish Youth In American Pastoral From The Perspective Of Trauma Theory

Philip Roth is one of the most influential American Jewish writers of our time.After the publication of Goodbye,Columbus in 1959,he published more than 30 works in total and won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction,the National Book Award,and the Man Booker International Prize.Apart from those important awards,he was also shortlisted for the Nobel Prize in Literature more than once.As a Jewish writer who grew up in America,Philip Roth paid much attention to the survival dilemmas and traumas of the American Jews.American Pastoral,one of Philip Roth’s American Trilogy,has attracted much attention and the previous researches on this novel mainly focused on character image,theme,and artistic technique,and so forth.However,the research of dilemma of survival for the American Jewish youth from the perspective of individual trauma and collective trauma has not been involved.Thereby,this thesis,in light of the individual trauma and the collective trauma,tries to revisit this novel,aiming to reveal that all Merry’s actions actually reflect her post-traumatic stress disorder and that all her sufferings are not solely connected with her individual trauma,but reflect the collective trauma of the American Jewish youth in the 1960 s.The Introduction part gives a brief introduction of Philip Roth and his work American Pastoral as well as the literature review of it and the theoretical approach used in the thesis.Chapter One starts with an unjust war in the 1960 s,interpreting the irreversible damage to Merry and other youths caused by witnessing the scenes of the Vietnam War.It reveals that for American Jewish youths,the Vietnam War is not only an act of extreme brutality,but also a trigger of the trans-generational trauma caused by the Holocaust.In order to stop the war,the American Jewish youth take violent actions,showing that they,by way of their violence,have transformed from being victims of a hereditary Holocaust nightmare to being perpetrators of innocent people.Although they transfer the trauma to other people through violence,reliving the trauma while using violence,the terrible consequences of which are that they still cannot get rid of their terrible suffering and remain in very deep pain.Chapter Two describes the conflicts between the Jewish education and the American civil education and the situation in which the American Jewish youth has to accept American civil education.Faced with the success criteria defined by the American education,instead of fighting directly,Merry numbs herself,which is exactly a reflection of post-traumatic stress disorder.As a result,she has drifted away from Jewish traditions.Many American Jewish youths with the same educational background also gradually have become uncertain about their identity.Some of them chase the so-called American Dream in puzzlement,while others hate America and try to use violence to overthrow the government.Chapter Three,through analyzing the embarrassing and complicated religious situation that Merry faces,discusses the religious clashes faced by American Jewish youths.One clash is the Christian anti-Semitism tradition and the prejudice against Judaism and Jews still existing in America,and the other is the increasing rate of intermarriage between Jews and gentiles.The religious clashes make American Jewish youths confused about their religious beliefs and identity.What is even worse is the lack of Jewishness that it evokes and brings trauma to them.The Conclusion part draws a conclusion that Merry’s sufferings are not only her individual trauma,but also the collective trauma from which all the American Jewish youth suffers.And this collective trauma is deeply inflicted by the trans-generational trauma of the Holocaust and the Vietnam War,the identity loss caused by the educational conflicts,and the lack of Jewishness due to the religious clashes,resulting in the predicament of the identity construction of the American Jewish youth.Like Merry,some of the American Jewish youths adopt a negative way to trauma,while some of them become eager to get rid of their Jewish identity and attempt to integrate into the American society completely,which obviously turns out to be not so helpful in curing the trauma itself.By presenting readers with such portrayal of this unsatisfying experience of the American Jewish youth,this thesis intends to confirm that without identification with the Jewish identity and its maintenance,the American “pastoral”being pursued by the Jews will inevitably end up as a tragedy.