The Construction Of Female Image: A Study Of John Updike's Rabbit Series

John Updike(1932-2009) is one of the most prolific and accomplished writers in contemporary American literature——winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, the National Book Award as well as numerous other awards. The release of Rabbit Series, namely, Rabbit, Run, Rabbit Redux, Rabbit is Rich and Rabbit at Rest, secures him a prominent position in the American and the world literature. In the Rabbit Series, John Updike concentrates on the whole mass of middling, hidden, and troubled America through a fictional history that interweaves the complicated social and cultural contexts with the Harry Angstrom family. This paper is to examine and analyze the female characters in Rabbit Series from the feminist perspective. Through the analysis of women characters that are in close contact with Harry, this paper endeavors to reveal the feminist tendency in John Updike's consciousness and its source.This paper is divided into five chapters. Chapter1 is an introduction, in which the author briefly discusses John Updike and his Rabbit Series as well as literature review of studies on Rabbit Series. Chapter 2 examines the awakening of the main female characters in Rabbit Series with a focus on the women's shift from dependence to independence. Chapter 3 explores three new women to identify the ever-rising independence of the womanhood as a whole. Chapter 4 analyzes factors contributing to John Updike's feminist tendency. The last part is the conclusion. By presenting the female characters'image construction in Rabbit Series, the author of the thesis contends that John Updike, while his Rabbit Series are claimed absolutely male-centered literary texts by some feminist critics, shows considerable concerns for women. The paper suggests that John Updike's individual preference combined with the influence of the feminist movement as well as changes in the sex sense and behavior result in his feminist tendency in Rabbit Series.