John Updike Rabbit Run Themes

766 Words4 Pages

John Updike`s novel Rabbit, Run (1960) the first of what was to become the Rabbit tetralogy and the fourth novel of his works. It depicts three months in the life of the protagonist Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom, a young man, a 26-year-old former high school basketball star, who is working now as a demonstrator of a kitchen gadget, the Magi Peel vegetable peeler. He has married young, since more than two years because his girlfriend Janice was pregnant and she is once again seven months pregnant. She is a sales clerk and they both live in Mount Judge, a suburb of Brewer, Pennsylvania with their two-year-old son Nelson. One evening he returns home to find his wife, Janice at home watching T.V and drinking again without their son and without their …show more content…

Moreover,socio historical,cultural and intellectual change in the west has drastic influence on the family with the passage of time, and the family is not the same in twentieth century. fathers, mothers, children and home that are the main ingredient of the family are losing their moral and social role, men for example who are thought to be protector, defender and breadwinner are no more ready to take their responsibility,and indulge in their lusts and sex and became more away of religion. women also who are supposed to be mothers , wise wives, keeper of purity, affection, warmth and piety have revolted and rebelled against their social and traditional duty. they want to go outside the range of the family requesting the freedom and equality with men. In this novel, Updike discusses the family that is the synonym of unity, order, togetherness and integrity. It is the sole force that can hold human being together. He mentions to some threats challenge the stability and harmony of this organization by introducing rabbit family as sample of American family or microcosm of American society in