God Or Human Being:Caldwell’s Search For Self-knowledge And Transcendence In The Centaur

John Updike (1932-2009) has been internationally known as a famous novelist, short story writer, poet and a great man of letters in the contemporary America. Being a productive writer, he has published more than thirty novels and more than a dozen short story collections, as well as poetry, art criticism, literary criticism and children’s books. His writings stress on the American society in different historical periods, in which the ordinary people’s lives are shown from every facet. He is called "American Balzac". The Centaur is Updike’s third novel, depicting the ordinary happenings around the central character Caldwell during the Great Depression and Second World War. On the basis of detailed reading, this thesis will apply the social historical research method to analyze Caldwell’s search for self-knowledge and transcendence.In The Centaur, Caldwell faced serious false self-image. He is a complicated and contradictory unit, both egocentric and self-denied. On one hand, regarding himself as an omnipotent god, Caldwell shouldered the burden of his family and work with a sense of individual heroism, and suffered deeply for other people’s inadequacy. On the other hand, failing in human relationship and religious salvation, he denied himself as a useless man. In bitter frustration, Caldwell made effort to struggle against the spiritual confusion. He tried his best to find his proper place in family, confirm other people’s life value, insist his principle of love towards others, and meanwhile, devote to a variety of community affairs. Knowing himself as a limited human being, he was no longer anxious about life, and was able to perform his social role well. Caldwell managed to reject death’s temptation, and found joy and his own value in the joy of his family and community members.The writer of this thesis thinks that proper self-knowledge is a sign of mental maturity. Updike uses the "centaur" from the Greek mythology as the metaphoric structure to reinterpret the traditional individualist heroism. Only by finding out one’s right place in society and getting self-knowledge can the ordinary people gain their life value and happiness.