Analyse af John Updikes 'Rabbit, Run'

What do we people do, when life is being so tough that we only think of one solution; Escaping from our everyday life. Most of us keep fighting and we will eventually be rewarded by somehow. But opposite the fighting once there is a group of impatient persons who are not willing to fight. Those people who do not fight against in the rough times are often seeking for a way to escape and leave the previous life behind and start a fresh. The book “Rabbit Run” from John Updike describes the main character Harry’s situation. Harry was once a great basketball player in high school, but he is now married with his pregnant wife Janice which whom he has a son with. He is a special man who is searching for something or someone to fulfill his life; it is like there is something missing. We get throughout the story information’s about Harry, which make us understand his personality. He is not happy with his life. There are so many parts in his life that he thinks should not be included. He is not quite happy with his job as a salesman, his hasty marriage to Janice and in general his way to live life. Especially his marriage to Janice was a mistake. He sees her as an irresponsible woman who is not ready to be a mother for second time. He calls her a mess because of her drinking problem and because she smokes cigarettes though she is pregnant. After seeing his son Nelson being happy with his grandparents, he somehow justifies the idea of leaving his son and pregnant wife and run away. His plan is to find his old basketball coach Mr. Tothero for receiving some advice and a temporary place to stay, so he can clear his mind. Mr. Tothero takes care of him and is interested in his story, but he does not truly involve himself in Harry’s situation. He keeps delaying the talk about Harry and Janice’s relationship problems. The coach finds Harry a woman so he can forget his problems and have some fun. The woman is a former prostitute named Ruth. She only cares about the money, even though Harry wants her to care about him and want her attention. The problem is that Harry sees Ruth as a forbidden apple; he is cheating on Janice which in a strange way turns him on. It also makes him feel guilty, especially because of the church across the street. Cheating is forbidden and since Harry believes in God, he has a guilty conscience about the whole situation. After being with Ruth for two month time, he manages to impregnate her. The sex between Ruth and Harry is passionate and steamy. Their relationship is built around having sex all the time, and by the experience Ruth have from her previous job, she might have some tricks which turns Harry on. We never hear about the sex between Janice and Harry, but I think their sex depends on how much they like each other. In that case I think their sex is very uncomfortable and awkward. We do hear about Harry’s horniness after being to church and flirting with the pastor’s wife Lucy. He comes home horny and wants to have sex with Janice, but she refuses. He gets mad all though she is not supposed to have sex for six weeks because of the birth of Rebecca (their daughter). Janice kills their daughter by an accident in the bath because she was drunk. By the information’s in the text I think that Harry always have been the same person. He runs away from things he thinks looks difficult and thing he don’t like. The problem is that he eventually will find out that running away from your problems, does not make life easier. Whatever you do, your conscience will always catch up with you to remind you of what you have done. The things you run away from do not only affect you, but also the people you care about. By escaping you will let many people down and the least you can do is to try. Try to deal with your problems and the consequences. I think that Harry is a coward for running his way all the time. You have to face your problems unless you want to end up running your entire life. It is also very childish to run away and not a mature way to deal with things. I think that it is Harry’s fault that the baby died. He offered her a drink because he wanted to have sex with her the same day. It ended up with she got too drunk and got back on her drinking problem which lead to the death.