ABSTRACT
In The New American Exceptionalism, Donald Pease observes that myths are meant to incorporate historical "events into recognizable national narratives". The myth of American innocence has been a central issue in American studies since its beginnings in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, when the so-called Myth and Symbol School was established. The myth of American innocence is interwoven with other mythic narratives and historical events that have shaped American culture and identity. The Corrections provides a close examination, if not a deconstruction, of the myth of the innocent nation, but also, and tragically so, an acknowledgment of its overwhelming power and persistence. Franzen's critical perspective depends on a conscious integration of the private and the political, which turns the text into a powerful national allegory. In the end, Franzen's novel refuses to keep its promise of fundamental corrections. The patriarch dies, but the American myth of the innocent nation lives on in his children.
