Feminism In Rabbit Is Rich

John Updike (March18,1932-January27,2009) deserves to be considered as one of the most distinguished and productive writers. His continuous writing has left numerous outstanding works to the world. The publication of the Rabbit Series which won him many major awards and made him well-known has secured his position in American literature and the world literature. Among the four novels, Rabbit Is Rich turns out to be Updike’s most highly awarded novel, which has won three major American literary prizes for him, namely the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Over decades, critics both abroad and at home have made wide research around Updike and his Rabbit Series which has gained him rewarding achievements. But the studies specialized in Rabbit Is Rich seems few, let along studies from feminist perspective. Considering the negative portrayal of female images in the former two novels of the Rabbit Series, some critics labeled Updike as a misogynic writer, which John Updike himself strongly opposed.Standing on this point, this thesis attempts to reread Rabbit Is Rich from a feminist perspective by introducing Judith Butler’s gender performativity. By a textual analysis of the changes and subversion of relations between the male protagonist Harry and three major female images plus an exploration of Updike’s attitude toward women, this thesis aims to get its conclusion that John Updike is nowhere near a misogynist; instead, he is a male writer with feminist perspective.This thesis consists of five chapters, including the introduction and the conclusion.In the introduction, the author briefly introduces Updike’s life experience and his literary achievements.Chapter two is the theory framework. Judith butler’s gender theory and her famous view of gender performativity are stressed in this chapter.Chapter three is the main body of this thesis. With a textual analysis, the author makes a detailed analysis of the changes of relations between Harry and three major female images in accordance with Butler’s gender performativity, and explores the underlying political gender subversion.Chapter four is the argument of this thesis. Based on the analysis in chapter three, the author concludes Updike’s view on gender which is constant with Butler’s gender view. Plus his attitude toward women (women both in his life and in his fictions), the author draws the conclusion of this thesis that John Updike is nowhere near a misogynist, instead, he is a writer with feminist thought, or a pro-feminist writer.The last chapter is a conclusion and summarization of this thesis.