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Volume 1 Issue 6 |
November 2014 |
| Between Melting Pot and Salad Bowl: A Study of Immigrant Jewish Culture and Identity in Philip Roth’s Portnoy’s Complaint | |
| Ms. T. Shameema, Researcher, Department of English, University of Calicut, Calicut, , |
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| Abstract | |
| Philip Roth’s Portnoy’s Complaint (1969) is one of the best-known, and perhaps one of the most controversial and notorious of American novels. Playful, and deadly serious, it explores some of the crucial issues of our times. Central to the novel, however, is the issue of the predicament of the immigrant Jewish community in the midst of WASP cultural dominance. The conflict between immigrant Jewish life and culture, and WASP life and culture is highlighted in the novel. The identity crisis precipitated by this conflict is carnivalesquely brought out through the figure of the novel’s young protagonist Alexander Portnoy, whose agonies eventually force him on to the psychoanalyst’s table. To be assimilated into the surrounding WASP culture or remain faithfully rooted in his Jewish American culture is what creates debilitating and painful identity crisis and confusions for Portnoy. The article is a brief consideration of this aspect of the novel. | |
| Keywords | |
| Melting Pot; Salad Bowl; Immigrant Jewish Culture; Identity; Philip Roth; Portnoy’s Complaint. | |
| Article | |
 Creative Commons |
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