Merry Levov’s Anti―American Dream in American Pastoral

Abstract. merry levov in Philip Roth’s American Pastoral is the fourth generation of a Jewish family. Being the daughter of a perfectly assimilated father Seymour Levov， Merry feels herself devoid of Jewish identity which contributes to her depression ever since childhood and partly leads to the later destructive and self-destructive actions. Merry’s anti-american dream of disengaging herself from the WASP middle class values is an inevitable consequence of Swede Levov’s american Dream， both of which are built on fantasies and doomed in disillusionment.

Keywords： American pastoral；Merry Levov； American Dream； Anti-War violence

1. Introduction

American Pastoral is a Rothian elegy for the lost American Dream， which tells the story of a Jewish family over four generations， focusing on the fate of the third generation Swede Levov who represents the culminating moment of the dream of assimilation coming true in America. Nothing stood in Swede’s way of living the American Dream until his own daughter， a stuttering self-styled revolutionary， not only verbally attacked his most sacred ideals but also exploded the town's general store-post office， shattering the father’s American Dream. “Now in Roth’s American Pastoral，”， observes Carol Iannone， “The fruits of murder involve no less than the end of the American Dream itself， destroyed， even as it comes most fully to fruition， by its own offspring.” （55）

By posing Swede Levov who desired to build his American Dream of assimilation against his 16-year-old daughter Merry， the extreme example of the American’s 1960s’ antiwar self-righteousness whose American Dream aimed to destroy that dream， Roth interrogated the all-too-seductive and illusive nature of this ideology and examines the assault of it against historical metanarratives. The daughter that Swede imagined tossing in the air landed on his life with the force of a bomb， transporting her father out of the longed-for American Pastoral and into everything that is its antithesis and its enemy， into the fury， the violence， and the desperation of the counter-pastoral―into the indigenous American berserk.

2. Merry Levov’s anti-American Dream

Merry Levov， the fourth generation of the Levov family， was the spoiled daughter of an accomplished father， and a beauty queen mother who were tolerant， kindly， and well-intentioned. She was therefore supposed to have been the pearl of the family’s American Dream： “the highest high flier of them all， the fourth-generation child for whom America was to be heaven itself.” （121） Even the name Merry， a synonym for merry， presented her father’s sweet hope. She was blessed with golden hair and slender limbs； with a logical mind and a high IQ and adult-like sense of humor； with security， health， love， every advantage imaginable.

But to everyone’s astonishment， she became the black sheep in the family. A girl born with seemingly endless energy， she during her teenager years fell for the passionate calling of communist revolution， and believed American capitalism was the root of all the injustice both home and abroad. Convinced that violence must be met with violence， in order to realize her dream of overthrowing this system of unequal distribution of wealth and the oppressive institutions of class domination， she went to extreme： In 1967， at the age of sixteen， Merry Levov for the purpose of lodging a protest in the only way she believed effective， brought the Vietnam War home by setting a bomb in the post office section of the town’s general store， killing a doctor who happened to be mailing a letter on his way to work. She then became a fugitive， killing three more innocent people by other two bombs she planted， sleeping with woman， getting raped twice and finally converted to the religion of Jainism. “Three generations of becoming one with a people. And now with the fourth it had all come to nothing. The total vandalization of their world.”（237）

In other words， the father’s own form of the pastoral， embodied in liberal ideals， actually gave birth to Merry’s counterpastoral dissidence. As he himself was the perfect example of the American Dream coming true， she must revile the Swede’s assimilated life to denounce his American Dream. In her eyes， this assimilated life devoted to the pursuit of the American Dream of materialism. It was divorced from historical identity， only an empty promise of American hegemony and it embodied the mixture of American exceptionalism and cultural imperialism that justified the war against Vietnam. In other words， her rejection of America grew indistinguishable from her rejection of her parents. And as her fury was directed not only at the US government but at her father’s idealized American success， it was both political and cultural.

They just want to go to b-bed at night， in their own country， leading their own lives， and without thinking they’re going to get b-b-blown to b-b-b-b-b-bits in their sleep. B-b-blown to b-b-b-b-bits all for the sake of the privileged people of New Jersey leading their p-p-peaceful， s-s-secure， acquisitive， meaningless 1-1-1-little bloodsucking lives！（107）

Finally， Merry’s crime was in some sense representative of many young radicals who have resorted to violent means in the anti-War movement： “…among them some Jewish， all in their twenties， Jewish， middle class， college-educated， violent in behalf of the antiwar cause， committed to revolutionary change and determined to overturn the United States government.” （254）. Those young terrorists were well-loved children of the middle class who grew up in relative ease. Their sense of oppression and need to rebel violently did not come from the material circumstances of their lives but they imagined themselves warriors for the dispossessed.

Mary’s dream of anti-American Dream was more an inevitable product of history than simply a personal atrocity. Her incredible violence could be interpreted as to represent the incendiary conflicts in American history of the 1960s， an extension of every sixties parent's nightmare. She was the perfect embodiment of the leftist dabblers who turned against their overly indulgent liberal parents. Robert Alter holds that “Merry is not a freak concoction of Roth's imagination but a troublingly symptomatic image of a swerve into self-destruction of this generation of Americans” （Alter 31）. Some sixties radicals were motivated by a pastoral dream in their desire to transform or even withdraw from a technological， capitalistic civilization that they perceived as a tool for injustice and domination. For Merry Levov and her peers， terrorism was twentieth-century Americanism. She was just one of many radicals who with homemade explosives blasted their way into public consciousness. They embodied a number of national anxieties from overseas challenges to domestic chaos， and they represent alterities that the system finds difficult to contain.

I am thinking of the Swede and of what happened to his country in a mere twenty-five years， between the triumphant days at wartime Weequahic High and the explosion of his daughter's bomb in 1968， of that mysterious， troubling， extraordinary historical transition. I am thinking of the sixties and of the disorder occasioned by the Vietnam War， of how certain families lost their kids （87）

Conflating Merry’s revolt against her father with the social unrest of the sixties， Roth meant to disclose that her violence symbolized that the pastoral fantasy of America-- the illusion of beauty， care， and material success as the means to a good life had succumbed to the violent change in values and perspectives. It was an inevitable product of time： the daughter and the decade blasting to smithereens his particular form of utopian thinking.

Merry’s dream of striking down capitalist exploitation， white domination， and American hegemony was destined to end in failure， though. Being only a pampered teenager girl born into a wealthy family， Mary had no idea of how the system of capitalism really worked. Living in Old Rimrock， she had no contact with the working class people for whose benefits she dreamed to fight. She knew nothing about how they lived and what they believed. The time she bombed the post office， she was a high school student who had never held any job， who “don’t know what capital is， don’t know what labor is， haven’t the faintest idea what it is to be employed or what it is to be unemployed.” （134）. Her blunder lay in that falling for the monotonous platitudes of romantic revolutionism， she took the communist propaganda for truth without really knowing what was going on in the real world.

Therefore during her five fugitive years throughout the continent， she gradually realized that her dream of a revolution in America to uproot the forces of racism and reaction and greed could never come true. She thus rejected the life of a violent revolutionary and became a follower of the old Indian religion of Jainism， whose practitioners advocated the ethical principle of nonviolence. She ate little. She wore an old nylon stocking covering her mouth and chin so as not to harm microscopic organisms. She revered all life to the point that she did not wash to harm the water. By living the doctrine of renouncing all killing of living beings， she was now the opposite of her dream of changing the world with violence.

3. Conclusion

As Ross Posnock puts it， Merry’s “perfected soul” echoes and savagely mocks the Swede’s “utopian thinking” （328）. Merry served as the anarchic center of the novel and a postmodern horror， and forced the Swede to confront the falsity of his assimilated self. The middle class Wasp existence devoid of Jewish identity imposed upon Merry contributed to her depression as a child and， at least in part， provoked her destructive and self-destructive actions. Merry’s dream of anti-America is an inevitable consequence of Swede Levov’s American Dream， both of which were built on fantasies and ended in disillusionment. For the Swede and his wife， Old Rimrock represented that sentimentalized vision of the pastoral， but neither wished to separate from the established capitalistic order that provided them with the means of purchasing their pastoral world. In contrast， Merry articulated her American Dream―to disengage herself from that social and economic world―by creating an adversarial enclave within the dominant social and economic system. Merry’s hatred for family and country was as fierce as her father’s love for them， but these contrastive emotions actually reflect that they are both committed to the dream that by denying one’s origin， by purging themselves of the old habits and attitudes， a brave new world of freedom can be created： the father dreams of leading an all-American life by denying his Jewish roots， while the daughter dreams of tearing down the dominant social and economic system by denying everything of her own middle class family. Therefore， the daughter who was chaos itself was at once her rational， middle class father’s nightmare and a grotesque version of his own American Dream.

References

[1] Iannone， Carol. “An American Tragedy，” in Commentary 104 （2）： 1997：5458.

[2] Roth， Philip. American Pastoral. New York： Vintage Books， 1997.

[3] Shechner， Mark. “Jewish Writers” in Harvard Guide to Contemporary American Literature， ed. Daniel Hoffman Cambridge： The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press， 1979： 210-226.

[4] Parrish， Timothy， ed.， The Cambridge Companion to Philip Roth， Cambridge： Cambridge University Press， 2007.

[5] Alter， Robert. “Philip Roth's America”， in Profils Américains： Philip Roth， ed. Paule Lévy and Ada Savin. Montpellier： Presses de l'Université Paul-Valery， 2002

[6] Posnock， Ross. Philip Roth’s Rude Truth： The Art of Immaturity Princeton， NJ： Princeton University Press， 2006.