Tag Archives: Updike

Well, Rabbit did what was expected of him–secretly in everyone’s mind of course, as what was expected of him was that he behave responsibly, putting his family above his own passions and perplexities.   This is perhaps the theme of Updike’s … Continue reading → Continue reading →

There is one risk the author runs in omniscient point of view and that is that the reader, knowing what the characters think can respond more accurately than merely providing their own justification or guesswork as to motivation. By what … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Just as Updike helps us to understand Rabbit, accept his leaving his pregnant wife and child, he throws in the inevitable twist: his wife is having the baby. It didn’t sit well with the reader that Rabbit just drove off … Continue reading → Continue reading →

"Even so.  I saw you that way tonight and I felt a wall between us and this is the one way through it.""That’s pretty cute.  You just want it, really." She yearns to hit out at him, to tell him … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Post-reading of Murakami, Marquez, O’Brien with the forced suspension of disbelief required brings to mind Updike’s near insistence on the realities of existence. The setting, the interaction of characters, the getting inside to see the motivations, all beat home the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Updike gives us characters that he understands–if not agreeing with their choices–and allows us that same insight.  As I’ve shown in a previous example, we follow Rabbit’s motivations by knowing his thought processes, his dreams, his desires.  He becomes a … Continue reading →

The timing of the reading of this section, where Rabbit goes to work part-time as a gardener, couldn’t have been better for me.  It echos the gardener’s love of the earth and growing things, the whole idea of rethinking life … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Along the lines of psychological realism, Updike has some more character insight that comes closer to stream of consciousness: Holding a three wood, absorbed in its heavy reddish head and grass-stained face and white stripe prettily along the edge, he … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I’m not sure that I quite understand the definition of psychological realism–in many places it appears to have more to do with the interaction of the reader rather than characterization–yet it’s the first thing I thought of in Updike’s depth … Continue reading → Continue reading →

At the side of her neck where it shades into her shoulder there is a shallow white hollow where his attention curls and rests.  (p. 69) Alliteration: shades into her shoulder and shallow white hollow. Beautiful, soft, smooth. Personification: where … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Backtracking here for a moment because this stuck in my mind.  Updike sets us up with a wonderful metaphor as Rabbit looks into his past, but the setting is wonderfully done; Rabbit goes to his mother’s house to pick up … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Updike appears to depend heavily on imagery to set both tone of setting and character: Growing sleepy, Rabbit stops before midnight at a roadside cafe for coffee.  Somehow, though he can’t put his finger on the difference, he is unlike … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Updike uses an omniscient third person point of view which naturally gives us good insight into a character.  As a matter of fact, everything seems to be about character here, and I like that.  It appears that this will be … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Um.  Don’t think I’ve ever read Updike before and I’m finding him quite likeable in his language use and style. The frame houses climb the hill like a single staircase.  The space of six feet or so that each double … Continue reading → Continue reading →