On John Updike's Exploration Of Feminist Consciousness

John Updike was a contemporary American novelist, poet, short story writer, art critic, and literary critic. Even before his death in 2009, he had been active in writing. For all his life, he created over 60 works including his masterpiece the Rabbit tetralogy, which covers almost all the aspects of American society after WWII, including family life of middle classes, sex, death, religion, art etc. With distinguished career, Updike and his works still receive controversial reviews. His attitude toward women is also accused by a large number of critics, viewed by some as misogynistic.Researches on Updike and his works at home and abroad focus on his Rabbit tetralogy and the American society, sexual depiction, religious thought and philosophy and intertextuality. Although some critics have tried dealing with his works from feminist perspective, systematic analysis of Updike's feminist consciousness is rare.As Updike's feminist consciousness is increasingly changing and developing throughout his life and his writing career, the thesis intends to study the exploration of Updike's feminist consciousness in light of his life experience, social background, feminist criticism, his refutation and the analysis of three heroines in his three novels with feminist tints S, Gertrude and Claudius and Seek My Face, so as to mitigate the charge of a misogynist.The thesis is made up of six parts. The introduction part is a brief introduction to Updike's literary achievements, literary review, feminist criticism and feminist consciousness, and the main argument of the thesis. The first chapter analyzes the social background especially the American feminist movement in the 1960s to 1970s, women in his life and their influence on his writing career, feminist criticism on his women writing and his refutation. The second chapter deals with the awakening of feminist consciousness of his women protagonists. The third chapter is about feminist consciousness of gender equality and autonomy reflected in his three novels. The fourth chapter analyzes feminist quest of self-fulfillment. The conclusion part goes further with the significance and limitation on Updike's exploration of feminist consciousness and significance of the research.