Open AccessPhilip Roth's The human stain and the destruction of the American dream
Author(s) -
Miha Vrčko
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
acta neophilologica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.259
H-Index - 2
eISSN - 2350-417X
pISSN - 0567-784X
DOI - 10.4312/an.39.1-2.51-61
Subject(s) - dream , white (mutation) , human life , content (measure theory) , stain , art , art history , literature , philosophy , psychoanalysis , psychology , theology , chemistry , medicine , staining , biochemistry , humanity , mathematics , pathology , neuroscience , gene , mathematical analysis
The paper dissects the notion of the American Dream in Philip Roth's The Human Stain. It looks at how individual tenets of the Dream are carved into the protagonist Coleman Silk, a black man who goes through life pretending to be white. The analysis shows how these same principles are questioned through various incidents in Silk's life and ultimately by his violent death. The result of Roth's scrutinizing is that, as all the underminings come together, the whole concept of the American Dream is symbolically crushed.