ENVIRONMENTAL THREATS AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF ECOLOGICAL CONSCIOUSNESS: AN ECOCRITICAL STUDY OF JOHN UPDIKE'S RABBIT AT REST (1990)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.68156/pc19dw91Keywords:
Ecocriticism, Ecological Consciousness, Environmental Awakening, Environmental Threat, John Updike, Rabbit at Rest, Toxic Consciousness, Toxic DiscourseAbstract
Ecocriticism assumes that literature can alter environmental perception, yet the process by which a novel actually builds such awareness has received far less attention than the environmental content novels contain. John Updike's Rabbit at Rest (1990) offers an unusual case, since it depicts environmental threat extensively while refusing every convention of advocacy. This study therefore examines Updike's representation of environmental threat, traces the emergence of ecological consciousness within his protagonist, and analyses the means by which the novel constructs such consciousness in its reader. It applies Lawrence Buell's theory of toxic discourse, and particularly his account of environmental awakening, together with Cynthia Deitering's concept of toxic consciousness. Existing scholarship has read the novel through history, mortality and national decline, and has not examined it as an instrument of environmental awareness. The study is significant in demonstrating how imaginative literature forms ecological understanding, and concludes that Updike constructs consciousness through accumulated ordinary detail rather than through argument, achieving recognition while withholding remedy.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Iqra Iqbal, Faryal Gohar, Noor Ali (Author)
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