The Artistic Features In John Updike's Rabbit, Run

Rabbit, Run, the American writer John Updike's most famous novel, received a great deal of criticism, most of which attempts to interpret the novel from religious perspectives. This thesis intends to analyze Rabbit, Run's artistic features in terms of the New Criticism. New Criticism focuses on the text itself and examines the relationship between a text's ideas and its form, excluding reader's response, author's intention, or historical and cultural contexts.This thesis argues that Updike's creative use of some literary devices helps to convey the theme of the novel. Four prominent devices (organic form, ambiguity, irony and symbolism) are used by the author to present the pivotal idea that the attempt the middle-class people make to adjust to new ideas and new social realities is futile and fruitless.