Conformism vs Identity

Abstract

My thesis aims at investigating how the individual struggles with identity as a Jewish person in the conformist American society in the 1950s. The quest for identity is represented in numerous works of American literature, out of which I have chosen Saul Bellow’s Seize the Day (1956) to scrutinize. The novelette introduces its readers a very complex influencing sphere on identity, namely the relation of the individual to his or her ancestry, family and his or her involvement in the belief system dictated by the mainstream conformist society of his or her age.