Research Paper on The True American: Philip Roth's 'Swede' Revealed

Introduction

The people of America are believed to be confident, holy, and tend to have a sense of higher quality than other non-Americans. On the contrary, Philip Roth has revealed the true face of the Americans, which is usually hidden, that is the side of the American that portrays the consequence of a prolonged self-contemplation that describes the true Americans (Roth 85). More importantly, the story about the true American is Swede's story that is based on his rise and fall. Thus, Swede was not coveted for his generosity trait in the whole of his life. Swede had all that is needed for a man, including personal appeal and the epic personality. Swede replaced his father's baseball mill, and he served in the Marines, as well as marrying Miss New Jersey in the year 1949. His wife was called Dawn Dawyer. Again Swede declined the idea of relocating the mill in the post-riot of Newark of 1960s (Roth 101). The paper seeks to explore why Swede is to be blamed for the downfall based on the history of how he was raised and the way he was raised, the society and the individual, the parentage that shaped him, and the family dynamics. It also aims at analyzing the way Swede approached conflict, as well as the violent nature of the 60s and 70s.

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More significantly, the American hero was the best jock when he was in high school, and the fluxing blond of his hair made him be branded the name Swede. That was a trait that could not easily be found in New Jersey. His wife was living in Old Rimrock, which is an old side of the country consisting of the colonial farms and places away from the Newark. It is worth to note that this story uncovers the true American hero, showing his characters and the way he lived his life (Gibbs 46). But due to some social and political events, as well as the character deficit, the story of the American hero changes to be a disaster.

Understandably, Swede is to blame for his own downfall because the downfall of a man can be shown when he does one act, and for Swede, it was more of a concatenation action. The disaster and the ruin that was encountered by Swede was not as a result of one event or action, but it was based on diverse grounds. The adverse consequences faced were correlated to issues such as inappropriate determination, political and societal situations, urges, bad picks, the poor parentage, and his upbringing (Gibbs 59). Based on class, Swede received a blow due to the black bend from his girl, but Merry is the reason for what Swede has done in his life.

The stained life of his daughter reveals more of a fail than success in his life. Swede left Newark and moved with his household to Rimrock that formed the oasis to the Newjersians, where he thought that everything concerning the Judaic background had been left behind while converting to be an American fully. He said to Merry, "There are drugs, there are violent people, and New York is an unsafe city" ((Roth 111). Swede thought that Rimrock was the safest place in America, but all went wrong when his girls joined a political terrorist movement, where the local station office was bombed, leading to the death of an old doctor. Merry and Swede had a different view of the new place, and to Swede, it was the best place to start a new life and forget the past, but it was never the same for Merry, and the place looks unpredictable to her.

According to Zukerman, Merry suddenly disappeared, and at that time, Swede got traumatized and stressed; all he could wonder was Merry's life, often asking about what has happened to Merry, the reason for her derailment (Primer 51). Similarly, all was to be blamed on his own downfall; he believed that it was because of the female parent, the anxiousness, the stripling, and the choler towards the war of Vietnam. That author reveals that Swede could take more of his time to bonder about his troubled immature miss; he even sympathized with her for not taking proper management for the girl, because Swede believed it is the role of the mother to ensure a proper state of affairs for the family.

Swede blames himself for the parental miss-step that should not have been taken when the girl was eleven years old. The author indicates that when Merry was acting like a mature girl and use to pretend. For example, Merry asks, "Daddy, snog me the manner you k-k-kiss umumumother" ((Roth 89). Swede could respond by kissing Merry, and that kiss could not allow her to sleep, thereby changing her for the rest of her life. The aftermath was that Merry became angry and emotional then started political address, and that could reveal her protest against the War I Vietnam, which she blamed on her father. The father could not support her daughter when she critically needed support. The question is what happened for Swede that he could not make it right from the beginning.

Swede was a righteous man from the beginning; he was the best man always portraying a pure and right action; he believed his actions belong to the American's right actions. The righteousness of the American's actions is in question and changed to be worse in the Vietnam War. Swede participated in the war that was fought in the streets, and the war was fought against the values of the state. It turned incorrect, as the national confusion of the American was portrayed on Swede's deforming character. His main confusing trait was that he was blaming everybody, including himself (Primer 58). Notably, the Americans turned into autocrats instead of being saviors, and the action taken by the miss in killing other Americans and taking safety in bombardment was as a consequence of Swede's epic character.

It is important to believe that the character portrayed by Swede that has led to his misfortune was due to his upbringing. His daughter has a lot of problems with her father and the adverse effects of her parentage, as well as an immature grownup that shows her joining terrorist and killing many people, including the class of the old age (Roth et al. 32). Besides that, Swede also had a greater problem with his parents because parents did not ensure that Swede grows up with proper parenting that would also help him nurture his daughter. He and both Swede's father should give the best installation for their children. More importantly, if Swede's father could have been more responsible for helping his son with the best parenting, then Swede would be more responsible for his daughter and provider her with the best parenting (Primer 62). Consequentially, the behavior that Merry portrayed made her change the political ambiance because Americans were often taking the victory in World War II, and Swede was among those who participated in winning the battle. Still, the behavior of Merry turned Americans to be protesters in the streets.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Swede is the one to be blamed for his ruin and misfortune. The author enlightens people on how the beginning and proper parenting is very important in the development of the human being. The central problem with Swede was that he applied the old system in his actions, and he got crushed by the system of the reality that shows him breaching many regulations. Swede was a Jew, but he got married to the Irish Catholic; therefore, he could not nurture his girl in the Judaic religion as he aspire the American dream.

Work Cited

Gibbs, Grayson. "Philip Roth/Nathan Zuckerman/Philip Roth Written/Written/Unwritten." (2015). 46-59

Primer, A. Rorty. "The Essential If/Then: Nathan Zuckerman as Flawed Liberal Ironist in Philip Roth's The Counterlife." 51-62

Roth, Philip, et al. A Political Companion to Philip Roth. University Press of Kentucky, 2017. 32.

Roth, Philip. American pastoral. Random House, 2016. 85-113