On The Contemporary American Culture In Light Of Rabbit Series

John Updike, one of the most influential writers in Contemporary American Literature, is well-known for his Rabbit Series. With the emergency of Rabbit Run in 1960, he published the remaining of Rabbit Series every ten years. The series vividly depicts the life experience of Harry, with Rabbit as his nickname, from his twenty-six to fifty-five years old. It reflects the American society and culture from 1950s' to 1980s', presenting us a panorama of its social background and the features of the times.As an expert in American culture, Updike describes social transformation and its related cultural shift in the post-industrial American transition period. Furthermore, Harry, as a representative of the American middle class, is surely related to it in many ways.Based on Rabbit Series, the thesis, however, approaches the contemporary American culture from the following three aspects: (1) credibility crisis and the secular tendency of religion in present America; (2) family life of the middle class and problems among its family members; (3) changes in sexual sense and sexual behavior arising from sexual emancipation.The highlight of the series lies in Rabbit, a typical character in American society. It also reveals aspects of contemporary American culture by exploring such problems in American society, culture and families. As a result, Rabbit Series gives us food for thought.