Masculinity Construction Of The Middle-Class White Man In Rabbit,Run

Rabbit,run is not only the representative work of John Updike,a famous contemporary American writer,but also an important work that lays the foundation of Updike's literary achievements.Through the analysis of the middle-class white men in this work and from the perspective of masculinity construction,this thesis explores the influence of the roles of several men in the family on their gender identification and performativity.Masculinity studies emerged at the end of the twentieth century,focusing on the problems of men in the gender system and the relationship between other gender types.Looking at the relationship between the sexes from such a new perspective will help us to have a deeper understanding of gender and related issues.This thesis studies the masculinity of Harry,his coach and the minister in his community.It is found that Harry uses body,coach workplace and minister religion as the main masculinity performance channels.They control others by using sports,power and position in the community,which are their gender performance methods.It is also the result of gender construction by the society.Despite the constant impact of feminism,the values and standards of masculinity in traditional patriarchal society still largely control the spirit and life of men.The process of masculinity construction is imperceptible.The formation of Harry's and other main characters' masculine concepts stems from the differences in their times and has a great relationship with their parents and families.This thesis interprets the middle-class white men in this book from a new perspective of men,and reveals that the role of men in modern and contemporary families is a paradox with the standards and construction of masculinity in the traditional patriarchal society:the pursuit of dominant masculinity makes men failures in their families,but their failure in the family then again blocks their way to the hegemonic masculinity.The paper further emphasizes the necessity and urgency of consciously updating and adjusting the standards of masculinity,which needs to be coordinated by all parties involved in the process of gender construction.