A Quest For Freedom In John Updike's Eastwick Series

Eastwick Series which consist of The Witches of Eastwick and The Widows of Eastwick,are magical realist works written by American writer John Updike.In Eastwick Series,Updike unfolds a picture scroll of mental pilgrimage,indicating his understandings on the quest for freedom.Most of the studies on Eastwick Series concentrate on the feminist perspective by interpreting Updike's attitudes on female's pursuit of freedom,while they ignore the fact that pursuit of freedom is what human nature shares in common.By systematizing some of Sartrean notions on freedom,this thesis constructs a philosophical research approach and aims to make a textual analysis on the exploration of freedom conveyed in Eastwick Series.The study highlights the heroines' quest for freedom,which contains three stages: original pursuit,predicament and reflections.The thesis consists of Introduction,body part and Conclusion.Introduction contains the plot introduction to the works,Literature review,Research questions,Methodology and Organization.The body part contains four chapters.Chapter 1 introduces Sartrean existential freedom applied in the process of textual analysis,which contains interpretation on absolute freedom from Sartre's early notions on freedom,adjustment on freedom from Sartrean existentialism after a shift towards Marxism,and Sartrean existentialism on the relationship between freedom and responsibility.Chapter 2 introduces the process of witches' initial pursuit of absolute freedom.With the acknowledgement on the firm belief that Nature precedes any rules and concepts,the witches are aware of transcendence of feminist awareness and ultimately walk to the realm of free choice with the enhancement of witchcraft.Chapter 3 analyzes the limitations of freedom by which the witches are restricted.The restrictions generally come from three aspects which refer to death,Others and reality in society and history.Chapter 4 reveals witches' reflections on the relationship between freedom and responsibility after the disillusion of absolute freedom.It emphasizes the inseparability of freedom and responsibility,for freedom is the foundation of responsibility and responsibility serves as guarantee of freedom.It further probes into the essential issue of the relationship between individual freedom and collective responsibility.The conclusion part indicates that in Eastwick Series,with the depiction of individual's quest for freedom,John Updike highlights the important influence that sense of collective of responsibility makes on individual freedom.