This article deals with one aspect of the political imagination that has been neglected by modern political scientists, namely, the use of literature to make essentially political points. It demonstrates that John Updike's Rabbit trilogy is properly read as a fictional representation of Alexis de Tocqueville's classic Democracy in America. Updike's stories reveal that the anomie, alienation, and mediocrity predicted as consequences of democracy by Tocqueville 150 years ago have become concrete dilemmas facing contemporary Americans in their daily situations and experiences.
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