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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 Rabbit’s 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 everybody’s 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.Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye， Jack Kerouac’s On the Road and Ginsberg’s Howl ， John Updike’s 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. Rabbit’s inexhaustible running on the way for escape and quest， Janice’s self-alienation and self-losing by intemperately wasting time on TV， cigarette， and wine and Ruth’s self-deceit in spirit， also including Eccles’ paradox in his career and faith， and coach’s horror to the family， all in all， they were tortured in the barrenly materialized world similar to the prison in Sartre’s 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.
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 Rabbit’s 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 everybody’s 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.Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye， Jack Kerouac’s On the Road and Ginsberg’s Howl ， John Updike’s 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. Rabbit’s inexhaustible running on the way for escape and quest， Janice’s self-alienation and self-losing by intemperately wasting time on TV， cigarette， and wine and Ruth’s self-deceit in spirit， also including Eccles’ paradox in his career and faith， and coach’s horror to the family， all in all， they were tortured in the barrenly materialized world similar to the prison in Sartre’s 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.