Rabbit At Resignation In Rabbit Is Rich

As one of the most remarkable contemporary American writers, John Updike is renowned for his impressive sensitivity to capture the chord of his time and for his photographic rendering of even the minutest detail in real life. Of all his literary masterpieces, the Rabbit quartet receives the most critical attention and acclaim. As the third novel of the Rabbit saga, Rabbit Is Rich gives a blow-by-blow account of Rabbit’s corpulent midlife from1979to1980. As an inheritor of his father-in-law’s car dealership, Rabbit manages to procure both financial security and upward mobility. Meanwhile he is experiencing a series of mental undulations:he becomes more than ever indulged in his capricious recollections for the past; his morbid fantasies of death and sex and the agonizing spiritual void chronically drain upon both his mind and body; paralysis and passive resignation displace his previous passion for and attempts of self-fulfillment. Therefore Harry doesn’t harbor sanguine hopes for a bright future as some critics observe. Neither is the tone of this novel an upbeat and positive one.This thesis will validate Rabbit’s resignation from the following three aspects, namely, the corrosive influences of consumer culture upon Rabbit, his frustrating family life, and his midlife crisis. All these seemingly irrelevant sections are neatly intertwined to point to Rabbit’s final dawning realization:life and society as a whole is beyond his pale and futile grasp. Admittedly material comforts and ease bring forth hedonistic pleasure and excitement. Yet the paucity of Rabbit’s spiritual values and his volitional inertia after his meteoric self-inflation and gratification of vanity are fatal. He harvests confusion and hollowness instead of the much sought-after freedom and self-realization. The return of his son Nelson further undermines his familial status. Their intermittent conflicts together with Rabbit’s narcissistic self-absorption render Rabbit’s family life choking and depressing. As Rabbit enters the phase of midlife, he is confronted with unprecedented challenges both mentally and physically. Nevertheless his attempts to accomplish midlife transformation are far from enough to yield spiritual maturity and growth. Spiritual dullness proves to be a corollary for the jaded middle-aged Rabbit. In conclusion, in an impotent gesture, Rabbit in Rabbit Is Rich becomes resigned.