Conflict Between Desire for Individual Freedom and Social Responsibility: A Comparative Study of Oe's A Personal Matterand Updike's Rabbit, Run

Abstract

To read John Updike's novelRabbit Runand Kenjaburo Oe's novelA Personal Matteris to decode both the protagonists Rabbit and Bird respectively in the midst of psychological tension created by the routine of unfulfilling married life with their wives and children. They can neither suppress their desires to be free nor can avoid the social responsibilities, so torn between two conflicting choices. Rabbit and Bird both having name from non-human world, represent animal nature and try to fulfill their suppressed desires by neglecting their familial responsibilities andtaking shelter in sexual perversion and alcoholism. Rabbit in theRabbit Runguided by Id, the psychological motif he inhabits, runs forever instead of returning to his family to cope with the reality and Bird, in A Personal Matter, though guided by the same motif returns to his familial responsibilities when his Super-ego creates an unconscious sense of guilt. However, the desired goal of both of the protagonists remains unfulfilled throughout.