Arutyunova A. M.

Teenage crisis of faith in the hero of John Updike’s story Pigeon Feathers P. 110- 117

UDC 821.111(73)-32.09«19»

DOI 10.37724/RSU.2023.80.3.011

 

Abstract. At present, we observe growing interest in a teenager’s personality. This is largely due to the dominance of the anthropocentric approach in modern science and to fiction for young adults that has experienced flourishment since mid-twentieth century. The central theme of books devoted to this important and unique phase of life is the search for answers to questions about the meaning of life and the acquisition of self-identity (social, historical, cultural, national, racial, sexual, etc.). This article focuses on study of the crisis of religious faith in the young hero and further, on his self-determination, as illustrated in John Updike’s short story Pigeon Feathers (1962). The novelty of our study lies in the choice of the work: Russian literary critics have never discussed this story from the point of view of the philosophy of being. In order to analyze Updike’s story, the author refers to the concepts of identity acquisition of S. A. Kierkegaard. This Danish philosopher suggested that the process of self-identification consists in living through critical situations and thus gaining one’s personal life experience. Looking into certain episodes of the story Pigeon Feathers, one can trace the protagonist’s growing disappointment in religion. The turning point in the life of the young man occurs when, burying the dead pigeons, he gains faith in immortality.

 

Keywords: American literature of the 20th century, John Updike, maturity, identity, initiation, crisis, teenager, religion, self-determination, becoming adult.

 

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