Characters

In "American Pastoral" by Philip Roth, the main characters include:

  1. Seymour "Swede" Levov - The protagonist, a successful Jewish American businessman and former high school athletic star from Newark, New Jersey. He inherits his father's glove factory and marries a former beauty queen, Miss New Jersey. Swede is a symbol of the American Dream in the post-war era.

  2. Dawn Dwyer Levov - Swede's wife, a former Miss New Jersey, who comes from an Irish-American Catholic background. She struggles with her identity and later faces mental health issues following a family tragedy.

  3. Merry Levov - The daughter of Swede and Dawn, who becomes a radical political activist during the 1960s and is involved in a deadly bombing as a protest against the Vietnam War. Her actions and disappearance deeply affect her parents and are central to the narrative.

  4. Nathan Zuckerman - The narrator of the story, a writer and a childhood admirer of Swede. Zuckerman learns about Swede's life and the breakdown of his idyllic existence through a high school reunion and subsequent meetings with Swede's brother.

  5. Jerry Levov - Swede's brother, who is more cynical and realistic about American society. He provides a contrast to Swede's initially idealistic view of life.

These characters are central to the exploration of themes such as the American Dream, family, identity, and the tumultuous social changes of the 1960s and 1970s.

Rita Cohen

is a character who plays a pivotal but enigmatic role. She is introduced as a politically radical young woman who becomes involved with the Levov family through Merry Levov, the daughter of Seymour "Swede" Levov.

Rita is associated with the radical political movement of the 1960s and comes into Swede's life claiming to know Merry's whereabouts after Merry goes into hiding following her involvement in a deadly bombing as a protest against the Vietnam War.

Rita's interactions with Swede are complex and unsettling. She makes provocative and disturbing demands, further complicating Swede's desperate attempts to find and reconcile with his daughter.

Rita serves as a tangible connection to Merry's new, radical world, which is so alien to Swede's own values and understanding. Her role in the novel underscores the generational and ideological conflicts of the time, as well as the personal turmoil and disruption experienced by the Levov family.