Abstract: Norman Mailer is one of the greatest novelists in the contemporary United States. He devotes all his life to literary works and never stops writing. He wrote a number of well-known excellent works, of which The Naked and the Dead published in 1948 made him become a well-known novelist overnight. In the published year, the sales of the Naked and the Dead topped the list of best-selling books for as long as three months. As an example of one of World War II literature, the Naked and the Dead had a vivid description with its delicate style, the natural and social reality of the profound revelation of the United States on the post-war political, economic and social psychology. The Naked and the Dead draws upon the author's battle experiences in the Philippines. In this novel, the author depicted the violence of marginalized characters, whom the author referred to are the Jews, women and soldiers, by using abusive and vulgar language. This paper is aimed to explore the impact of social factors at that time through analysis of these characters.
Key Words: Norman Mailer; The Naked and the Dead; Jews; women; soldiers
CONTENTS
Introduction 1
1. Depiction of Violence of the Marginalized Characters 4
1.1 Depiction of the Jewish 4
1.2 Depiction of the Women 5
1.3 Depiction of Soldiers as Supplementary Description 7
2. Reasons for Such Depiction 8
2.1 Social Background 8
2.2 Earlier Life Experience of Marginalized Characters 9
2.3 Make a Difference in Writing 10
3.4 Let Women Re-examine Their Status 10
3. Conclusion 11
Bibliography 13
