ABSTRACT
A panorama of post-war America is pictured from a microcosmic perspective in Rabbit Redux by John Updike. He, presenting Rabbit’s personal life, describes the conflicts as well as confusion which lead to Rabbit, the protagonist’s identity crisis. This essay focuses on Rabbit’s identity crisis as the patriarch, the white majority and the man of property, in which he struggles and pays his price. Eventually he could treat the binary forces such as male and female, black and white, upper and low more rationally and objectively, which helps him relocate himself in the society. The connection between Rabbit’s personal life and the social events is unusually close. It is safe to say that the turmoil of the sixties exerts an inevitable influence on Rabbit. Meanwhile, the connection is not one-way. Rabbit’s individual identity crisis is representative and reflects the crisis of America.
KEYWORDS
John Updike, Rabbit Redux, identity crisis