The Concept of Black Humor in John Updike’s Rabbit at Rest

Abstract

Most modernist works of art present the modern world as a bleak, barren abyss where human civilization faces its decline. To diminish the disgust of the nihilistic outlooks of the spiritual void in modern life, Updike employs black humor. Humor that Updike uses involves certain elements of American black humor, such as absurdity and anxiety. In Rabbit at Rest which is a grotesque allegory of mythical happiness and success in America, Updike’s humor questions and undermines many values at the heart of American culture. In this novel certain destructive elements of modern civilization are caricatured, and many characters are made grotesque, specially, by their exaggerated inefficiencies. These techniques make many facets of modern life absurd and laughable. By applying this humor, Updike overcomes the inadequacy of conventional realism in expressing the reality of the contemporary world; therefore, he can be reckoned a modernist writer who challenges and diminishes the loathing of modern desolation through his art.