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Often in life when things get complicated many people choose to give up, much like Rabbit running in the book Rabbit Run by John Updike. Rabbit or Harry Angstrom can not deal with frustrating situations, and when faced with them, he turns his back. On Rabbits way to try to find the straight path he actually is running in circles, making his life more confusing. In the beginning of the novel Rabbit flees from his alcoholic wife, Janice, who is pregnant with their second child. Rabbit yearns for order, neatness, and a straight path ahead. However, the clutter behind him in the roomate Old fashioned glass with its corrupt dregs, the choked ashtray balanced on the easy-chair arm, the rumpled rug, the floppy stacks of slippery newspapers, the kids toys here and there broken and stuck and jammed, is not Rabbit (14).
This chaos in his home is symbolizing the unbearable frustration Rabbit thinks his life is heading for. His trip away from his wife and family quickly come to an end when Rabbit becomes frustrated with the winding, circling roads and Rabbit decides to come back to his town. When Rabbit returns, he does not come back to Janice but to his old coach Tothero. Tothero introduces him to a prostitute, Ruth, which after one night with her he moves in.
Rabbit cannot face going back to his old life with Janice. After only a little while with Ruth, Rabbit feels life with her is too similar to the life he had with Janice and returns to Janice after speaking with Reverend Eccles. Reverend Eccles informs Rabbit that Janice gave birth to a baby girl, Rebecca, and Janice and Rabbit are reunited. At this point Rabbit feels that the road ahead is not a curving highway, but a straight clear path. While Janice is still in the hospital with Rebecca, Rabbit stays at home with his son, Nelson, bettering their father / son relationship. Janice's dad has paid their rent and given Rabbit a job selling cars and Rabbit feels his life is now coming into order.
However, this order in Rabbits life lasts only a little while after Janice returns from the hospital. When Janice refuses to make love to Rabbit, he fears that he made the wrong decision and runs because of the feeling that somewhere there was something better for him than listening to babies cry and cheating people in used-car lots (248). During Rabbits running Janice gets very drunk because he did not come home and while giving Rebecca a bath accidentally drowns her. At the funeral Rabbit accuses Janice of being solely responsible for the death of their newborn child and Rabbit flees once more looking for the straight path. During Rabbits run he returns to Ruth one final time. Ruth informs Rabbit of her pregnancy and tells Rabbit to forget about his wife and child.
Rabbit leaves Ruths apartment to take a walk and clear his head. At this point Rabbit comes to the realization that he has been running in circles and has nowhere to turn. While walking, Rabbit comes in contact with an unlit dark circle in a limestone face symbolizing the tight circle he has run into (264). At the end of the novel Rabbit continues to run, he runs, Ah: runs.
Runs (264). Rabbit felt his life would never be a straight clear path with no frustrating or complicated moments, thus he decides to run from all confusion. Bibliography: Rabbit Run: John Updike
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Research essay sample on Rabbit Run John Updike
