Struggles of Cultural Identity: An Analysis of Philip Roth's 'Portnoy's Complaint'

Philip Roth is the most prominent American novelist in American literature. His book, “Portney’s compliant” is one of the most important literatures for the ethnic group in the world especially for the Jews in America. According to Prof. Sasha Senderovich “Philip Roth’s book is the bible for the Jewish people.” (Lecture). Through the practice with cultural tradition and try to assimilate with the gentile world, Roth reveals his gloom with complain to his psychiatric, Dr. Spielvogel to free from orthodox Jewish tradition in the American society. Inversely, through goy’s behavior, lifestyle, food, and their anti-Semitic psycho, dragged up him back to his tradition. Therein, the juxtaposition between two cultures fabricates him with an enormous confusion and he felt rootless about his identity and end up with his complaint to the doctor. However, the experience of Alex life, established a statement that, “being minority in a society, for the first or second generation,

Mother with the knife on her hand forcing him to eat, represents the difficulty to raise her children and teaching them social norm. The Jewish people make louder voice represent the minority to get their social position in the society. Those stereotypes are the Jewish joke for Roth. His complaint, his identity consists with the Jewish joke. As Alex complains to his Doctor, “I’m living it in middle of a Jewish Joke! I am the son in the Jewish joke- only it ain’t no joke!” (36, 37). He mentioned in the middle, that’s mean he is conflicting between two cultural forces. Portney’s views, as all of his teachers are simile to his mother. The social standard he learned from his teacher and parents and his self-critical conscience established a super-ego in his mind. Now his egos are gloomy to find his identity and worry about the Jewish minority about their thousand year history and their represent in the contemporary