Metamorphosis of the protagonist in Philip Roth's The Breast

Abstract

Philip Roth's The Breast (1972) unfolds the story of the protagonist's metamorphosis. The present work analyses the causes of his metamorphosis along with its effect in the “self” of the protagonist. Kepesh, obsessed with sex, feared with castration, deprived of childhood experience, gets changed into the form of dislocated human female breast. The change in his physical body surprises him. Therefore, he, at first, does not accept his present state. However, he accepts it later. Consequently his self gets fragmented. Thus, this novella reflects Kepesh's change into a human female breast and his fragmented self at the same time.