The drama of affluence in Joyce Carol Oates's recent novels

Abstract

This dissertation presents a thematic analysis of Joyce Carol Oates’s (1938) novels written since 1990 about the middle- and upper classes of America. The goal of the study is to examine the ways in which these novels represent the reality of contemporary America. The dissertation draws on sociological and cultural studies of American society in the second half of the 20th century. The study shows that Oates constantly reflects on the past, from the post-war period to more recent decades, reexamining not only the cultural constructs of previous generations, but also our current attitudes toward them. An important conclusion of the study is that Oates appears to be criticizing a lack of character strength, stability, reliability and moral decency in the middle and upper classes, qualities that are often associated with the Protestant world-view, while simultaneously criticizing the limitations that this same Protestant ethic imposes on her characters. She reassesses the meaning of success in the corporate, political and celebrity world and pleads for humbleness and simplicity. Through the different literary techniques that she embraces in her work and plots taken from real life Oates remains a social critic and an artist closely bonded to her society.