In his thought-provoking novel, “The Human Stain,” Philip Roth explores the hostile atmosphere in American academia in the 1990s stifled by the overwhelming weight of political correctness. As is well-known, “political correctness” often degenerates, perhaps unwittingly, into a witch hunt, in which people condemn others as racist, while snobbishly boasting of their moral superiority.

Set in 1998, the monumental novel reflects three notorious periods in the 20th century: the McCarthy era, the Vietnam War and the impeachment of President Clinton. Those three periods were marked by intense self-righteousness, witch hunts and finger pointing. Recently while rereading the novel, I found that Roth portrays four different types of people who cope with the harsh reality in their own ways.

“The Human Stain” is an intriguing account of an African-American, Coleman Silk, who has been secretly passing in a white American society as Jewish. Initially, Coleman finds no problem living as an African-American as he was the much-envied valedictorian at high school and a promising athlete. Gradually, however, he realizes the wall of invisible prejudice and discrimination against African-Americans. For example, Coleman falls in love with a white woman, Steena Paulsson, and brings her to his home to introduce her to his family. Finding Coleman is from an African-American family, Steena breaks up with him instantly.

Frustrated and dismayed, Coleman decides to live as a white man. As his skin looks white, Coleman serves in the Navy as a white man and marries a white woman with whom he has four children. He pretends he is Jewish and never reveals his secret to his family. According to the novel, Coleman decides “to take the future into his own hands rather than to leave it to an unenlightened society to determine his fate.” This is understandable because otherwise people would see only his African-American ancestry, completely ignoring his other identities and characteristics.

Coleman’s life, however, is a lie that unwittingly deceives others including his family and colleagues. His principle is: “You do not need to tell your dark past unless asked.” Nobody has asked him if he is black so, technically, he has not told a lie. Besides, we cannot criticize him because it is the racially-biased society that has forced him to hide his true identity. Yet, his attitude cannot evade moral obligations.

Ironically, Coleman is later condemned as a racist at college. In the classroom, he inadvertently calls two absent students “spooks,” by which he means “specters.” Problem occurs when the two students turn out to be African-American and “spooks” is a racial slur referring to black people. Coleman tries to defend himself but nobody listens to him. In rage, he resigns from his college and leads a resentful, miserable life thereafter.

On the other hand, Coleman’s big brother, Walter Silk, is the man who dauntlessly stands up against white men’s racial prejudice. He serves in the Army in an African-American unit and later actively participates in various campaigns promoting civil rights. Walter is a man who firmly believes that it is incumbent on him to fight for African-Americans’ human rights, no matter how long it may take. Naturally, he regards Coleman as a coward and an opportunist so he cuts all ties with him forever.

Meanwhile, Coleman’s father Clarence Silk is a man who teaches his children to live as cultured, true African-Americans. He rigorously trains his children to speak impeccable English, which he calls the language of Chaucer, Shakespeare and Dickens. Clarence frequently takes his children to museums, concerts and observatory towers to edify them. But was it possible for an African-American to be treated as a cultured man in the American society in the 1940s and 1950s? Clarence is a waiter at a dining compartment in a train. Ironically, he collapses and dies while serving white people.

Lester Farley, a white Vietnam veteran, is a man who is a victim of posttraumatic stress disorder and thus constantly blames others for his misery. He blames the U.S. government for ruining his life by dispatching his unit to Vietnam, criticizes American society for its indifference to the Vietnam vets and condemns his ex-wife’s boyfriends for stealing her from him. Full of grudges and resentment, Lester is both a paranoid man who suffers delusions of persecution and a self-righteous man who blames others for his failure. Out of jealousy and self-righteousness, he deliberately causes the traffic accident that kills his ex-wife Faunia Farley and her lover Coleman.

In the novel, Philip Roth refrains from making value judgments. He just perceives the problems of his protagonists and their biased society as “the human stain, the stain that is there before its mark.” The ways in which the four protagonists deal with crises are problematic in their own ways. Which one then is the best option? “The Human Stain” is a thought-provoking novel for those who have to cope with discrimination, whether racial or regional.

By Kim Seong-kon 

Kim Seong-kon is a professor emeritus of English at Seoul National University and president of the Literature Translation Institute of Korea. ― Ed.