The Search for Self in Saul Bellow's Novel the Victim

Abstract

Saul Bellow deals extensively with the protagonist's search for self in hot New York City. Bellow portrays Asa Leventhal, who is in effort to be the part of the mainstream American society. He is insecure individual both in economic and ethnic position, and he teeters in America's tumultuous social order in search of self. Leventhal is a weak willed man who is unable to confront the most fundamental questions of existence and engage himself with reality. Asa is confronted by an old acquaintance, Allbee only to realize his own inability to define himself and create a suitable orientation in which to understand and adapt to his environment. Leventhal is the representation of modern man who suffers from self-effacing identity crisis. Moreover, Bellow's novel deals with the modern day problem of identity crisis apparent in the protagonist.