Rabbit, Run - 2162 Words

Rabbit, Run Rabbit, Run was published in 1960 by American author John Updike. He wrote three more Rabbit novels, one at the end of the 60s, 70s, and 80s. He says these novels became â€Å"a running report on the state of my hero and his nation.† He won the Pulitzer Prize for the â€Å"final† two books. series continued after Rabbit’s death in Updike’s 2001 novella, Rabbit Remembered. In 2006, The Rabbit series was voted number four on The New York Times list of â€Å"the best work of American fiction of the past 25 years.† Rabbit, Run was also selected by Time magazine as one of the top 100 books from 1923-2005. And the novel is also listed by the American Library Association as one of the 100 most frequently banned books in the 20th century.†¦show more content†¦Alcohol is mostly presented as a destructive force; whenever the characters get near it, disaster on small or large-scale results. Cigarettes too are presented as mostly destructive, contribu ting subtly and not so subtly to the smokers’ problems. Though at one moment a cigarette is seen as a wafer of repentance. So go steal the keys to the liquor cabinet and – oh, you know Shmoop’s just kidding! Rabbit, Run Theme of Guilt and Blame Rabbit, Run is a guilt and blame-fest. This starts at the beginning of the novel when the main character, Harry Rabbit Angstrom, runs away from his pregnant wife and his son. But when newborn Rebecca June Angstrom drowns in a bathtub, things get messy. Rabbit’s wife Janice admits she drowned the baby while drunk. Yet Rabbit is a prime suspect, especially to himself. He is a suspect precisely because he was not there when the baby died. All of the other characters in the novel are suspects too – everybody simultaneously feels guilty and wants to blame others. Even the novel’s setting, America of 1959, is a suspect. Rabbit, Run Theme of Transience Rabbit, Run’s main character Harry Rabbit Angstrom is in a perpetual state of transience. He’s always on the move, usually on foot, though he’s occasionally found in a motor vehicle. He only stops to sleep and mate, and occasionally, to grab a bite to eat. Why does he run so hard? Because he thinks somethingShow MoreRelated The Game of Life in Rabbit, Run Essay2407 Words   |  10 PagesThe Game of Life in Rabbit, Run      Ã‚  Ã‚   Perhaps all our lives are simply a game, a game to which society sets the rules and to which we adapt.   In John Updikes novel, Rabbit, Run, the protagonist, Harry Rabbit Angstrom lives his life by the rules of the game of basketball.   Rabbit is a man who has, until the beginning of the book, played by societys rules.   But Rabbits ambivalence is different from that of those around him; he has trouble communicating, and as a result he is often misunderstoodRead MoreRabbit, Run by John Updike1347 Words   |  5 PagesRabbit, Run by John Updike is a novel about a young man named Harry â€Å"Rabbit† Angstrom who leaves his pregnant wife and young child and begins a journey to find happiness and freedom. He gets involved with a prostitute and stays with her until his wife has their baby girl. While he is away from his wife he is counseled by Reverend Eccles who tries to help Rabbit’s situation, although it does not do much good. After the new baby is born Rabbit leaves his wife again to go back with Ruth, the womanRead MoreRabbit Run by John Updike Essay1188 Words   |  5 PagesRabbit Run by John Updike The world of John Updikes Rabbit, Run is a collection of polarities that dramatizes the in-betweeness and the constant state of tension that characterizes humanity. A cursory perusal of John Updikes Rabbit, Run reveals a world of hopeless futility in which Harry Angstrom runs in ever-tightening circles. Rabbit is always running, from one woman to another, between Brewer and Mt. Judge, between solitude and society. Rabbit is torn because he has faith in something meaningfulRead More A Feminist Reading of Updikes Rabbit, Run Essay2344 Words   |  10 PagesA Feminist Reading of Rabbit, Run  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚   I do not like Harry Rabbit Angstrom. This creation of John Updike, this man who abandons his pregnant wife and young child, and his alliance to the late 1950s feeling of unrest and rebellion makes me angry. Many times throughout this novel my cheeks flushed furiously and I could not contain my exasperated sighs. When I read the last sentences of Rabbit, Run and closed the book, I was disappointed. It was not because Updike fails to make it clearRead More Search for Freedom in John Updikes Of the Farm and Rabbit, Run2514 Words   |  11 PagesFarm and Rabbit, Run John Updike is often celebrated for his novels that depict men struggling against responsibility or enduring personal endeavors. These characters represent a family of weak individuals facing serious emotional turmoil. They are indecisive and self-indulgent, juggling their problems with their personal duties. Two excellent examples are Joey Robinson, a thirty-five-year-old advertising consultant in Of the Farm, and Harry Rabbit Angstrom, a gadget salesman in Rabbit, RunRead MoreLiterary Review of Rabbit Run by John Updike Essays3013 Words   |  13 PagesLiterary Review of Rabbit Run by John Updike John Updikes novel, Rabbit, Run, is about a man named Harry â€Å"Rabbit† Angstrom. Rabbit is a brainless guy whose career as a high school basketball star peaked at age 18. In his wifes view, he was, before their early, hasty marriage, already drifting downhill. We meet him for the first time in this novel, when he is 22, and a salesman in the local department store. Married to the second best sweetheart of his high school years, he is the fatherRead MoreEssay on Updikes Rabbit762 Words   |  4 PagesUpdikes Rabbit As the gap between homo sapiens and their uncivilized ancestors widens, reproduction looses its value as the most important means to continuing the species. For humanity to progress in an increasingly modern and complex world, men must be required to think of themselves in broader terms. Rabbit Angstrom cannot understand that he could find meaning in life if he devalued the importance he places on sex. He is unable to accept the realities of life in twentieth century AmericaRead MorePostmodernism in White Noise by Don Delillo and Rabbit, Run by John Updike2560 Words   |  11 PagesThesis statement: The constant change in the world, as evidenced by consumerism in the books Rabbit, Run by John Updike and White Noise by Don DeLillo, gives a false sense of security to the protagonists of the two books thereby blurring the reality they are in and destroying them in the end. *** Don deLillo’s White Noise: Postmodern elements Most postmodern books have been published after World War II. First published in 1984, White Noise by Don deLillo explores the emergence of technologyRead MoreRabbit and Wolves Lab Essay1053 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"Rabbits and wolves† Introduction The computer simulation named â€Å"Rabbits and wolves† is about models and simple systems. In the simulation, there are three main organisms, rabbits, wolves and grass all put together in a forest ecosystem. An ecosystem is a set of organism within a defined area or volume that interact with one another and with their environment (Miller amp; Spoolman). A system is a collection of elements or components that are organized for a common purpose (Rouse, 2005). Read MoreEssay about Hazel: An Unassuming Leader1611 Words   |  7 PagesClaudius from the play Hamlet (Shakespeare). However, this was not the case with Hazel the rabbit. He lived in an environment that probably was intended to be a portrayal of human society. In the novel Watership Down, the peaceful life of a rabbit warren was suddenly disturbed by the horrifying dream that a lowly rabbit Fiver had. Hazel was worried by it and took action by contacting the warren’s chief rabbit, Threarah. He went to the autho rities first to solve the problem. That was not the attitude