Parents and their Children in the American-Jewish Novel of Immigration, 1912-1946

This study explores the unique relationship between immigrant Jewish life in America and some of the fiction that was created out of those circumstances between 1912 and 1946. The nine novels examined, all written by the immigrants themselves or by the second generation children of immigrants are: Michael Gold's Jews Without Money, Ludwig Lewisohn's The Island Within, Mary Antin's The Promised Land, Anzia Yezierska's Bread Givers, Jo Sinclair's Wasteland, Henry Roth's Call It Sleep, Beatrice Bisno's Tomorrow's Bread, Paul Rosenfeld's Boy in the Sun, and Abraham Cahan's The Rise of David Levinsky.In these novels, the protagonists confront problems of parental conflict, religious doubt, assimilation, and cultural marginality. But parental conflict is the primary focus of the study because it draws to it all of the other problems as well. In exploring the relationship between the protagonists and their parents, this study employs the methodology of C. G. Jung's Analytical Psychology, primarily his theory of individuation.After an introduction that places these works in the context of modern American literature, specifically the genre of urban American novels, Chapter II offers an historical overview of the traditional role and responsibilities of Jewish parents. Chapter III describes the Visionary Father in Jews Without Money, The Promised Land and The Island Within. Chapter IV describes the effect of the Negative Father in Bread Givers and Wasteland. Chapter V describes the role of The Good Mother in Call It Sleep and Wasteland. Chapter VI decribes the conflict caused by The Negative or Absent Mother in Tomorrow's Bread, Boy in the Sun and The Rise of David Levinsky.This study concludes that the indicated novels project an archetypal hero whose resolution of his or her parental conflict is seen as a quest toward individuality. While archetypes are universal to humanity, and while the quest is a familiar theme, the virtue of these novels is that they present distinctive protagonists whose growth and development, in confrontation with American culture, is sustained by Jewish history and tradition.Thesis (Ph.D.)--New York University, 1987.School code: 0146