Joyce Carol Oates's American Appetites: American Hunger

Joyce Carol Oates who has naturalistic tendency deals with American hunger which is very insatiable in American Appetites (1989) that seems to be a parodic allusion to An American Tragedy (1925) by Theodore Dreiser, one of American naturalists. American hunger is closely related to an unquenchable desire to accomplish the American dream that embraces an aspiration for higher socio-economic status and class. Craving and yearning for the American dream is a critical issue in American Appetites. While Dreiser in An American Tragedy depicts one ambitious man's struggles to be upwardly mobile and its tragic consequences, Oates in American Appetites explores one self-made man's tragic story after his success to fulfill his own American dream. This study aims to explore the characteristics of deep-rooted hunger lingering in American life and culture, examining Ian McCullough's life and hunger in American Appetites.