Vilnius pedagogical university faculty of foreign languages department of english philology

between heaven and earth”. (The Centaur, p. 3) Therein lies the main metaphorical purport of the novel – “heaven” and “earth” represent contradictions between poetic and matter-of-fact, ideal and real, high ideals and vile intentions. These oppositions pierce the whole book as the reader encounters Caldwell’s high aspirations and his miserable milieu which at the end wins and deprives the protagonist of his ideals and desires. Moreover, in The Centaur the fear of death and death itself are confronted with searching for the purport of life, with the assertion of goodness.
The second epigraph embraces the part of the Chiron myth. It briefly presents the main idea of the novel – Chiron (Caldwell) gives up his life on behalf of Prometheus (Peter). At this point, as the title and the two epigraphs merge in the reader’s mind, for the first time it becomes evident that Chiron is going to be the central figure of the novel. Employing ancient myths in the modern literature is quite a frequent case; however, the Christian idea of sacrifice on behalf of others is, probably, the most popular among contemporary writers. Consequently, when the reader finds out in the second epigraph the pain and torment of Chiron and then his lifting to the sky, he or she is immediately reminded of Christ and of antinomy of faith and unbelief, goodness and evil – oppositions standing at the keynote of the book.
Besides, the novel comprises a mythological index created by Updike himself. The key to the cipher of the index is simple – the real names of the characters begin with the same letter as their mythological counterparts (Peter - Prometheus, Zimmerman – Zeus, Minor - Minos). This index is treated in a number of ways: some critics think it is put to the novel for ironical purpose; others believe it helps to reveal the mythological background of the book, the parallel of each character and event. The second opinion seems quite reasonable – sometimes it is difficult or even impossible to decode the meaning of one or another scene, to extract additional information from them without the help of the index. On the other hand, the index may be treated as an ironical device (for example, taking into consideration the foreword to it, which says “compiled at my wife’s suggestion” (The Centaur, p. 271)).
The very beginning of the novel illustrates Updike’s brilliant skill of writing. “Caldwell turned and as he turned his ankle received an arrow. The class burst into laughter. The pain scaled the slender core of his shin, whirled in the complexities of his knee, and, swollen broader, more thunderous, mounted into his bowels.” (The Centaur, p. 7) Despite the fact that an arrow here does not relate fully to the mythological context (it is quite possible nowadays to hear of a pupil shooting or loosing an arrow to the teacher), the reader presupposes that the arrow hitting Caldwell’s ankle might be the same one which smote Chiron. Hence, myth and reality do not contact, they clash at the very beginning of the story
in order to emphasize the great difference between the fancy world of legends and the rigorous present of Olinger.
Further in the novel one reads: “He tried to keep his leg from touching the floor, but the jagged clatter of the three remaining hooves sounded so loud he was afraid one of the doors would snap open and another teacher emerge to bar his way” (The Centaur, p. 8). In this sentence the reader is already aware of Caldwell being simultaneously the centaur. Comparing this sentence with the previous episode containing an arrow, it should be mentioned that in the novel both implicit and explicit methods of framing the mythological semantics occur. Consequently, it is obvious that Updike obtains a close contexture of myth and reality in The Centaur, what forces the reader to observe simultaneously Caldwell’s misfortunes and the last days of Chiron preparing to leave the Earth.

1. 
   METAPHYSICAL FUNCTION OF MYTH IN THE CENTAUR
   

In The Centaur, the metaphysical function of myth establishes mystical-transcendent, religious background of the novel. The myth extends the frame of the novel, adds it extra dimension as it enables the reader to travel back trough time and approach some common archetypes. To put it otherwise, Updike turned his protagonist into the centaur in order to emphasize the importance of his sacrifice, suffering and pain. Caldwell is a very good man, a talented and unselfish one, however, it is questionable whether this character would be suitable to express the great idea Updike meant him to reveal. Consequently, in order to give Caldwell prominence, to make him greater, the author identified a modest teacher with the immortal centaur and at the same time with Christ, joined the three figures together.
As it was mentioned before, the myth of Chiron is probably the only one in the Greek mythology which is very similar to the biblical story of Christ. Generally speaking, Jesus Christ is one of the crucial figures in the cultural history of the West, a unique character and one of the greatest symbolic figures of humanity. His death and immediate resurrection emphasize that he was not a simple man but a divine being. For that reason writers and especially poets of different epochs tended to transpose the figure of Christ into their own days or, as Updike did in The Centaur, to evoke his image through other symbols.
So, why does Caldwell-Chiron become Caldwell-Christ? He abnegates his ambitions and life on behalf of his son, but it is not nearly all. He deprives himself of life on behalf of all the people. For instance, the episode with the hitchhiker, when Caldwell and Peter hurry up to school, illustrates it. Despite being late, Caldwell stops their car and picks up a man freezing on the roadside. The hitchhiker seems untidy: His “dirty green scarf was tied around his