Challenges of Immersion and Assimilation as portrayed in American Pastoral

American Pastoral (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Derek Royal Parker, in an article titled “Fictional Realms of Possibility,” writes, “Roth has his protagonists reimagine their realities and establish a space where they can renegotiate their subjectivity, especially within the perimeters of ethnic identity. By reimagining, I mean that the protagonists of the particular works – in most cases of Roth’s fiction, Nathan Zuckerman – take their lives and create a counter-reality to that which they are experiencing. These imaginings suggest a multifaceted sense of self, freeing up the subject to explore possibilities that are not confined to one fixed notion of what it means to be an American writer, a man, or a Jew.” (2).

Essentially, Royal, a professor at the Prairie View A & M University, is making the point that in Roth often writes his stories in such a way that they run along two parallel tracks, the first one being the reality of the narrator and the second the imagined self. In case of American Pastoral, the story starts off with the narrator Zuckerman describing his youth and the icons that he looked up to in Weequahic High School, Newark. The blue eyed blonde athlete who looked more Aryan than Jew (10), one who excelled in three different sports, was a local hero for not just Zuckerman but the entire Jewish community of Weequahic. As the prose progresses the reader comes to understand that the hero of this story is Swede the blue-eyed blond athlete of Jewish descent.

At this point Roth diverges and advances several years ahead and creates a situation where Zuckerman meets his idol Swede. At the encounter Swede recognizes Zuckerman and even remembers his field name which makes the latter gush with a multitude of emotions, pride, happiness, excitement, etc. Then Swede invites Zuckerman to meet discuss the prospect of writing a tribute to his father. That situation is the beginning of the transition between the reality and imagination. Zuckerman begins to interact with Swede and he comes to the conclusion that his childhood idol is intellectually inferior to him which comes as a shock, because Roth leads us to believe that heroes should be flawless. Once the flaw is found then that is the harbinger of the protagonist’s downfall. The rest of the novel is the “counter-reality” that Zuckerman experiences as he imagines Swede’s life and narrates the same.

Royal is saying that Roth’s works often deal with his protagonists negotiating through life in some sort of an imagined world. Their trials and tribulations often result from the fact that they are torn between two worlds – real and imagined. A big influence on Roth’s protagonists is their ethnic identity and how the character perceives it. In American Pastoral Swede identifies himself as American, much to the displeasure of his father (Lou Levov) who believes in sticking to the roots. Lou is of the opinion that because Swede doesn’t know anything about the history of his people (Jews), their sufferings and persecution, he is happy with his American identity and oblivious of what the rest of the world may think.

I believe American Pastoral is much more than a story of Swede as imagined by Zuckerman. This novel presents to the reader a bird’s eye view of the tumultuous times of the Vietnam War era and the disturbances that it brought to the American soil. The novel also places heavy emphasis on the concept of immigration and assimilation into American culture. There is conflict amongst the characters in the story of what they identify themselves as, where they belong and in which direction they are headed. All these make the American Pastoral an extremely complicated, yet very interesting reading. Through the story Roth deals with the subject of individualism in an American context, the story explores the challenges faced by individuals as they negotiate through the world and create their own identities – an American, Jew, Jewish-American, Man, Woman, Businessman, etc.

Critics like Royal may disagree with my analysis of American Pastoral, because he of the opinion that Roth has dealt with the subject of assimilation and immigration as a facet of imagination of the narrator and protagonist and not in reality. Though it is true that that there is a multiple arguments and counter arguments, indictments and defenses presented in American Pastoral the main theme of the book continues to be the story of Swede Levov and his family as imagined by Zuckerman. Even though there is considerable amount of reimagining of reality by Zuckerman in this novel, the fact remains that the setting of the story is in the tumultuous 1960s and the disturbances is what made the story of Swede so tragic and interesting.

I think Royal is right to a certain extent when he writes, “The individual can define himself as observant or secular, as America or Israeli, or as consciously ethnic or assimilated, many times all at once, as if trying on different hats.” But I still maintain that Roth is trying to present to the reader a story narrated by his alter ego Zuckerman, the story of Swede with a strong emphasis on the context of the period in which it is set in.

I am not saying that Royal’s observation that this story presents the continuous transition from the real and imagined worlds is wrong. I just believe that instead of focusing on the Roth’s play of worlds and turn of phrase, I would concentrate on the content of the story which is basically that of Swede as imagined and presented by Zuckerman. At this point it is possible that Royal and other critics may argue that Roth’s work became a topic discussion only because of his expert juxtaposing of real and imagined in the same tone which almost misleads the reader. In other words, their position is that the story is less important than the literary talents displayed by Roth.

I would still maintain that American Pastoral is like a continuous dialogue between people with somewhat conflicting and somewhat similar thoughts, beliefs, predicaments, and crises. Almost in every situation in the book the characters are either defending their belief or trying to interrogate the other’s stance on a particular subject. Be it Lou arguing with Dawn about her faith; Swede arguing with Rita Cohen about her beliefs; or even Merry arguing with her Mother it is all the same concept – defending their stand on a particular subject.

Works Cited Roth, Philip. American Pastoral. Miami, FL: Warner Bros. Publications U.S. Inc, 1997. 3-59. Print.
Royal, Derek P. "Fictional Realms of Possibility." Studies in American Jewish Literature 20: 1-16. Print.