Title: Discipline and Resistance: Interpretation on The Human Stain from Disciplinary Theory

Abstract: Renowned Jewish American writer Philip Roth has a penetrating insight into the malaise of American society. The final installment of his “American Trilogy,” The Human Stain, offers a profound depiction of the racial conflicts and political hypocrisy within American society. This thesis interprets the novel from the perspective of Michel Foucault’s disciplinary theory, focusing on the portrayal of identity politics. The study reveals that the pervasive white mainstream ideological discipline, with its powerful penetration and subtle influence, gradually molds individuals into docile bodies through mechanisms like barracks, army, schools, prisons and workshops. Despite their attempts of resistance, individuals are ultimately suppressed by the more dominant power of mainstream ideology, which results in American minority being trapped in a desperate abyss of survival, with the white mainstream ideological discipline being the fundamental cause of their predicament.

Keywords: The Human Stain, power discipline, Panopticism, Philip Roth, Michel Foucault, identity politics

Author: Meiling Zuo, Ph.D. Candidate, Foreign Languages and Cultures, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, Hunan, China.