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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This 7 page paper argues that in "Rabbit, Run," John Updike undercuts his characters' efforts to find personal fulfillment; that is, Rabbit never finds independence, Eccles cannot reclaim his spirituality and Janice, Rabbit's wife, is unable to find the peace she longs for. Bibliography lists 7 sources.
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7 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_HVUpdike.rtf
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lives. People who enjoy Updike tend to find these things the most interesting aspects of his novels, saying that sensuality and the search for self are all-consuming parts of the
personality, and its rare to find them explored so well and in such depth. This paper argues that Updike undercuts his characters efforts to find personal fulfillment; that is, Rabbit
never find independence, Eccles cannot reclaim his spirituality and Janice, Rabbits wife, is unable to find the peace she longs for. Discussion Religion and sexuality are main themes in all
of Updikes novels, possibly because Christianity has never been able to reconcile the two: "... while we recognize that religion has always presumed to regulate sexual affairs, and that sex
may even function as a religious experience under the proper circumstances, it is far riskier to suggest the possibility of a reciprocal relationship" (Morey-Gaines 595). Organized religion limits the "proper
circumstances" for sexual expression to the marital relationship and ignores the implications for sexuality if the marriage doesnt work. It also ignores the fact that sex is a basic human
drive, and when a married couple is having trouble sexually, the entire relationship can fail. This it seems what Morey-Gaines suggests when she says that while sex may be religions
(in the context of marriage), religion cannot be sexual. "Sexuality may be spiritual, but spirituality may not be sexual, it seems, and this is especially so in the transcendent patriarchalism
of Western Christianity, which has never found it easy to reconcile bodies with souls" (Morey-Gaines 595). It would seem to be this fundamental dichotomy between body and soul, religion and
sexuality that drives most of the characters in the novel. Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom, who is referred to as "Harry" only once in the book, is on a quest for
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