"Everyman’s" Drama with Growing Older. An Analysis of the Main Character

Abstract or Introduction

"’But there’s no remaking reality,’.... ’Just take it as it comes. Hold your ground and take it as it comes. There’s no other way’". This quotation from Everyman’s main character himself gives a good insight into the theme of this novel. It deals with the limitation of life which at some point becomes real for everyone, and a man’s attempt to escape this reality. The book describes the hard truth that there is no turning back, once you have realized your mistakes, you will have to live with the consequences. For most of his life though, the main character does not accept what he advices his daughter in the previous quote, namely that there is no way around reality. At some point of his life, his only aim is to escape death. Before that, however, he tries to elude growing older, hence starting a race against time, although he knows, he can never win.

As Robert Kastenbaum explains, "[a]nxiety - all anxiety - is rooted in the awareness of our mortality. The consequences are enormous, and reveal themselves in virtually every aspect of individual and cultural life". The protagonist is caught up in a frantic fear of aging which is at the same time connected to a fear of loss. Therefore, he does not immediately realize the damage he has caused to others and to himself. This leads to the thesis that in Philip Roth’s novel Everyman, the main character’s destructive behavior towards relationships, mirrors his desperate attempt to cope with his own aging process.

The first chapter of this analysis will reveal the origin of the main character’s fear of aging by examining the reasons and the development of his anxiety. After that chapter two will discuss these findings in relation to the protagonist’s way of living and his dealing with his own aging process. In the last section the consequences of his behavior will be worked out. Furthermore, the reasons for his increasing loneliness as he grows older and his lonely death will be analyzed.