Nothingness： the Destination of Harry’s Self—actualized Pilgrimage

1. Introduction

John Hoyer Updike （March 18， 1932-January 27， 2009） was an American novelist， poet， short story writer， art critic， and literary critic. As a prolific writer of the period after World War Two， he has written a lot in his long-stretching career， like the volume of poems The Carpentered Hen and Other Tame Creatures （1958）， The Poorhouse Fair （1959）， The Centaur （1963）， Couples （1968）， The Coup （1979）， The Witches of Eastwick （1984）， the prequel to Hamlet （2000） and The Widows of Eastwick （2008）. Among these， we have to admit that the most famous work is his Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom series （the novels Rabbit， Run （1960）； Rabbit Redux （1971）； Rabbit is Rich （1981）； Rabbit at Rest （1990）； and the novella Rabbit Remembered）， which chronicles Rabbits life over the course of several decades， from young adulthood to his death. And because of Rabbit is Rich and Rabbit at Rest， Updike is one of the only three authors （the others were Booth Tarkington and William Faulkner） to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once.

2. Chapter One

The Background of Escape in Rabbit， Run----Spiritual Wasteland

In the 1950s after the world warⅡ， American government carried out Truman Doctrine and McCarthyism， with the aggravation of International Cold War nuclear warfare horrified everybodys life. Dispirited to the society， American youngsters， escaping the reality in a decadent way， are indulged into the hopelessness， emptiness and distemperedness to be the “beat generation”. After the J.D.Salingers The Catcher in the Rye， Jack Kerouacs On the Road and Ginsbergs Howl ， John Updikes Rabbit， Run with a kind of romantic， mysterious and surrealistic color in the naturalism， trying to escape and find out some value in the abandoned society， indubitably， is the inheritance and development on the subject of escape and quest.

Reflected in Rabbit， Run， the relationship among the materialized individuals thoroughly got alienated； religious faith got ignored； the social order got collapsed； and the world got fragmented， where each role is living the dead-alive life. Rabbits inexhaustible running on the way for escape and quest， Janices self-alienation and self-losing by intemperately wasting time on TV， cigarette， and wine and Ruths self-deceit in spirit， also including Eccles paradox in his career and faith， and coachs horror to the family， all in all， they were tortured in the barrenly materialized world similar to the prison in Sartres No Exit， where the relationship among the individuals are mutual escape， observed， and repellent， but inter-dependent， for without ‘the other， the ‘self will lose the reliance and reference. Therefore， the endlessly circular escape and quest is generated.

3. Chapter Two

The Escaping Net Centering with Harry

3.1 Janices self-alienated escape

As the end of World War Two the social relationship and the structure of class in America appeared some radical changes， particularly in the uprising and development of middle class， for apart from the seemingly remarkable changes in the increasing quantity and affluence of it， the living style also upheld some earth-quaking changes----the multifarious emergence of fast food， car， color TV， computer and the rise of salary， which produced an illusion that they were parading into the age of happiness. Since still so many people were struggling on the edge of the impoverishment and making a living by selling their labor force， we have to admit that all the prosperity was only counted to be the dazzling pseudo-image.

Because of the uniqueness of the capitalist society leading to the structural changes to the family， the corresponding ambivalence of dependence but repulsiveness from it reflected on the higher mid-class Janice married to the lower-position husband， Harry， she was the typical housewife with no job but had considerable spare time hanging at home. Family， for her， was the only affective harbor in the society where emotion was insulated and inhibited from the commercial area， and any feelings of sympathy transcending the area were dangerous. Therefore， the deviation of living gravity bewildered her into the dilemma. Although womens movement was fully launched， the symbolized limitation and predestination of ‘family prohibited them from eradicating the position of wife for cooking. Similarly， Ruth， the main role of the following part， she couldnt get rid of the ‘cooking position either. Additionally the combination of social convention， education and ethical norm was another obstacle to womens aspiration for equality. Owing to the restriction on the ideology， albeit they apprehend the sense of ‘lost， they didnt realize what they were missing. Thus， during the intangible lost in the plenty of idleness， Janice had obtained numerous opportunities to contact with herself， subconsciously forcing herself to discern the obscured ‘self whom she in the mean time was afraid of recognizing. Furthermore family was the centre of her life， and any alienation of self in it would deteriorate her situation， thus immoderate watching TV， smoking and drinking for escaping became the only choice.

3.2 Ruths self-delusive escape

Ruths spontaneous escape from the unfair treatment and from the bondage of reality brought her psychological fluke that Harrys emergence would bestow her real love and rescue her out of the cage that society fabricate in measure. She was clear that the only way for outlet was to be extricated in spirit. However， life is full of escape that everybody aspires to reach the ideal according to their pre-designed routes， and Ruths spiritual lodgement on Harrys escape eventually would be invalid. Although Ruth realized the series of unstability， she still chose to be self-deceived by giving another chance to Harry， just for he was the most distinctive among those visitors. About the illusion to the ideal， she pigeonholed all relative truth like Harrys family， her own position of prostitute and Harrys escaping nature， analyzed from another perspective perhaps which was not irrational but positive. But the ignorance to reality didnt deny its existence， for the truth will imperceptibly combine with the hypothesis to the belief bringing self-deceiver into the dilemma that Ruth “had known from the first night the wife would win they have the hooks and anyway she feels really lousy” （Run 156） until the final choice generated.

As the above analysis about the pariahdom of Ruth， her status in society was much more dependent on male than other females， and her whole living space was limited in a dark room much smaller than Janices family. Thus， in the social order constructed by ‘the other of male， the prostitutes represented by Ruth belong to the subject who was deprived of much more self-consciousness than that of any other classes. And the expectation to bump into a man who fell in love with her and emancipated her out of the abyss of misery to convert her fate was unpromising. Despite the encounter actually happened， she is hardly to achieve the transmutation to the Cinderella either， which would at best emerge in the fairy tale on TV. Therefore， concluded from Harrys escaping nature， inexorability of reality and the personal limitation the only way to outlet for Ruth was to get rid of self-illegibility and of the derivative self-delusive escape.

3.3 Harrys self-oriented escape

Given the background that Harry exists against， it is not difficult to deduce that his running course is limited among Janice （responsibility）， Ruth （seducer） and the Nature （not the promising ending）. Meanwhile it is very irony for us to notice that the person who is afraid of taking responsibility for his marriage， family and society unexpectedly declares that he believes in God， and much more absurd is that he seemed to have designated himself out of the secular species and have schemed out the much higher consideration for his life. He thought thats the reason why he frequently fell into the alienation from the external and never get understanding from the others. Therefore， Harrys attempting to delete the ‘ethical sphere and then straightly skipping into the religious sphere would eventually trap him forever in the ‘a(chǎn)esthetic sphere to be an absolute escapist.

4. Chapter Three

Harrys Perpetual Escape

4.1 Harrys escape for Psychological being

Harrys desperate running to attain his ‘ownmost through skipping over all the responsibilities is the same as the elaboration of Nietzsches ‘free spirit to exhibit the same passion that “it urges in the reader， the call to arms， to break free of all shackles： religion， society， morals， comfort， pity， the herd（Earnshaw 49-50）， according to Steven Earnshaws evaluation. However， these disturbing elements acting on Harry， in fact， have involuntarily penetrated into his consciousness； otherwise， he wouldnt choose to keep running all the time. Perhaps some readers would remonstrate that Harry has achieved his short-term goal at different running phase， but because of failing to recognize the essence of existence it is still too far away from the ideal ultimate to completely terminate the circular pilgrimage of escape-return-escape. Especially when facing death， regularly， fear and anguish will assemble everybody together， even for the individuals with conflict， except for Harry， reversely， “his heart completes his turn and turns again， a wider turn in a thinning medium to which the outer world bears a decreasing relevance.” （Run 236） At this moment he could successfully detach himself from the rabble to be the only person surmounting death even from which he could perceive possibility， at last he thoroughly turned out to be a real outsider， or “become the type of Platonist， the pure scientists， realize that death is the only final escape， it seems that they begin to think about systems which transcend death： about universals， ideals， and absolutes （in the platonic sense）” （Young 377） pointed out by Warren L. Young. But here for Harry， beginning begins anytime， and never the death could impede it. So， “death loses this natural meaning…death becomes transfigured from its immediate meaning， viz. the non-being of this particular individual， into the universality of the Spirit who dwells in His community， dies in it everyday， and is daily resurrected.” （Hegel 475） Moreover， death is the premise to birth； so he believed the words that Eccles prayed in the funeral of his daughter， “I am the resurrection and the life， saith the lord： he that believeth in me， though he were dead， yet shall he live： and whosoever liveth and believeth in me， shall never die.” （Run 236） He is assure that “The lord is my shepherd； therefore can I lack nothing.”（Run 237） God is the shepherd， from Harrys perspective， and He is the supervisor to the interdependent individuals of herd scaring to the death. Different from these herds， however， Harry is the typified of Nietzsches ‘overman who is the closest-to-God species existing between the God and mob.

But what surprised us is that， as the above mentioned， when Death befell on his daughter， rather than being suffered， he “intensely relieved and excited， realizes he must go forth from the field and found a new religion” （Run 228）， thus his faith was silently transforming. Obviously he is not so pious to God compared with the infinite potentiality which is the real target and he is escaping for. Finally， we have to witness that he will be retarded on the running for ever.

4.2 Harrys escape for the absolute freedom

Given that freedom includes various contradiction between Rabbits animality and humanity， self and the other， and the absolute freedom and relative freedom， however， theres no available standard for us to assess the rationality of the degree of it， as to how to satisfy the demand of self but not to produce any side effect on others， thereby no burden of freedom generated. Here， Harry was also bewildered by the contradiction that while locating self beyond secular and aspiring to realize the self to re-create past and to ignore all the moral responsibilities， he was enveloped by the groundless nothingness for escaping into an isolated island. Precisely as Kyle A. Pasewark analyzed in The Troubles with Harry： Freedom， America and God in John Updikes Rabbit Novels： “Two dimensions of Space are at issue： horizontal breaths and vertical reaches， this language of space makes clear the contradiction between the dreams of individual accomplishment and social recognition.”（3-4） It indicates that the personal accomplishment should be established on the social recognition and end in it too， and any extraction from the social stage will lead all the dreams losing the direction， basis and comparison. Thats the reason why he was often caught by “hollowness”.

“he feels the faded night he left behind in this place as a net of telephone calls and hasty trips， trails of tears and strings of words， white worried threads shuttled through the night and now faded but still existent， an invisible net overlaying the steep streets and in whose centre he lies secure in his locked hollow hutch.”（Run 35）

At last， Harry had to “return to the confines that the pursuit of freedom abjures” because the absolute independence is futile and under such situation “when Harry is free， he is not free.” Pasewark further concluded.

Conclusion

Reviewing the various escapes above and the deviation between the escapism and existentialism， we could conclude that the real escapist， Harry， rather than run into the freedom， reality or existence， oppositely plunged into the process of escape of imprisonment， futility and nothingness that was the severer restriction than what he was escaping from. Without doubt that the confinement is not out of others control but delimited by himself， contrarily if Harry did not overvalue his own existence but share the experience with the others， perhaps he could obtain the unexpected connotation of life. However， the illusive escape for the spiritual elevation had been guiding him into the ignorance to the surrounding existence and gradually entrapping him into the vicious cycle. Therefore， the authentic reality was what Harry was escaping from while escaping for.

References：

[1]Brenner，Gerry.Rabbit，Run：John Updikes Criticism of the ‘Return to Nature[J].Critical Essays on John Updike.G.K.Hall and Co. Boston， Massachusetts，1982.

[2]Dicken，Thomas M.God and Pigment：John Updike on the conservation of Meaning[J].Religion& Literature，vol.36，no.3，2004：69 -87.

[3]Erik，Kielland-Lund.The Americanness of Rabbit，Run：A Transalantic View[M].New Essays on Rabbit，Run.Cambridge University Press，1993.

[4]Pasewark，Kyle A.The Troubles with Harry：Freedom， America，and God in John Updikes Rabbit Novels[J].Religion and Twentieth- Century American Novels，1996：1-33.

[5]Updike，Rabbit，Run[J].London： Penguin，1964.

【作者簡(jiǎn)介】董帥，武漢光谷金融控股集團(tuán)有限公司。