List of Broad Themes:
Life’s ability to destroy man and his values, such as the destruction of Ira and Murray’s lives when Eve creates the book I Married A Communist and its subsequent repercussions.
The pervasive effect of censorship which has the ability to strip a man of all identity, especially American identity.
The only real difference between the lower class and upper is that the lower class has a developed view of life, which actually serves to be an impediment.
America’s mistreatment of veterans and those loyal to their country(such as teachers, factory workers, etc)
Truth versus lies, such as when Ira acts as a paragon of virtue and justice when in actuality he beats those who disagree with him and sleeps around with younger more
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The personal openness and Communist secrecy. The home life and party. The need for a child, the desire for a family. A guy from the streets marries an artiste?” (Roth 100) Roth is setting up the major conflict which will occur between being a communist and rich.
Possible Thesis Statements:
In I Married A Communist Roth uses the literary elements, metaphor, allusion and paradox in order to show not only show life’s ability to destroy man and his values but the veil upon which life can destroy man’s values, as censorship and the mistreatment of loyalty in America.
The novel I Married A Communist demonstrates that often the most virtuous and truthful of men are anything but. The author, Philip Roth makes use of paradoxes, metaphors and allusions in order to show that men may claim to be paragons of justice but such lofty ideals are ultimately unsustainable and will have them plummet into sin and misery.
Roth shows that the common man- the factory worker, the school teacher, etc- will often vote against his own interests in I Married A Communist. Through the use of verisimilitude, paradox, and metaphor Roth shows that politics cannot be won by the common man as every party even the one which claims to represent them the most fails