Rabbit Run Analysis
In this emotional novel Rabbit, Run, John Updike takes the main character, Harry "Rabbit"
Angstrom, on a roller coaster ride through the ups and downs of life. The once great basketball
star runs into a mental crisis in his mid-twenties and decides to up and leave his son, Nelson,
and pregnant wife Janice to escape to the easier life. Rabbit may have had a better relationship
with the people in his life if he were not constantly running. His immaturities and insecurities
hurt
his
family,
especially
his
son
who
is
dependent
on
Rabbit.
Society defines a mature marriage as a loving relationship with a nuclear family in which the
parents support and raise the family. Too often, this social contract clashes with individual
yearning. Rabbit is restricted, so is unable to act, as he would truly want. Rabbit defies the
societal demands and pursues his own individual wants and needs, which can hurt others in his
life. Harry's marriage to Janice is very superficial. They were young teenage lovers, and Janice
became pregnant soon afterward. He immediately marries Janice even though this marriage
goes against his desire for individuality. Rabbit and Janice are not very close, as Janice is quite
shy even about showing her body to her spouse. Rabbit is also beginning to find Janice less
attractive, and feels some hostility towards her. "Just yesterday, it seems to him, she stopped
being pretty (Updike 13)". One would think that the addition of children would mature a couple
and bring them closer together in some instances, but in this case it obviously does not. Rabbit
does not value Janice and their relationship; he regards it as something easy to walk out on, or
should we say, run out on. He does not put effort into making it work, he simply runs away.
Running from problems is not a mature way to deal with difficulty, but this is the only way he
knows how to cope. When Rabbit first runs away from his wife and son he meets Ruth, a
prostitute. Rabbit's love for Ruth is immediate, impulsive, and immature. He clings to Ruth right
away, and he provides more security for Ruth than she has ever had. She was used to men
using her and walking away afterwards and this is why she pushed Rabbit away in the
beginning. However, he persists because he wants her, and she gradually gets used to him.
Ruth's love for Rabbit is a bit more mature in this aspect because she took time to develop
feelings for him and works at the relationship. When Rabbit runs to the hospital to be with
Janice during the birth of the baby, he leaves Ruth and returns to the "normal" life with Janice.
And then when he leaves Janice in the middle of the night for the second time, he returns to
Ruth. This back-and-forth relationship shows how immature Rabbit's love for both women is
because he can't force himself to fully develop love for or commit to either woman and choose
a life. When Rabbit is with Ruth, he looks out her bedroom window and sees people marching
into the local church. "The thought of these people having the bold idea of leaving their homes
to come here and pray pleases and reassures Rabbit, and moves him to close his own eyes and
bow his head with a movement so tiny that Ruth won't notice"(78). This displays what he
knows is right without the feeling of intense unhappiness welling up inside him uncontrollably.
He perhaps feels guilt for the first time since leaving his wife, causing him to feel retribution for
his infidelities. Rabbit becomes friends with Jack Eccles, the minister of his wife's family. He
feels the embarrassment of what he has done in full force through an amiable handshake. The
two become good friends and discussed the finer points of Rabbit's life. On their first golf
outing, Rabbit is driven to say, "Well I don't know all this about theology, but I'll tell you, I do
feel, I guess, that somewhere behind all this there's something that wants me to find it"(110).
By this, Rabbit refers to his own pursuit for individualism. The only real love Rabbit has for
anyone is for his son Nelson. Even though he ran away from him twice, he does still love him
and feels regret for his actions. We know he loves Nelson dearly by the way he talks about "his
boy"(19). Maybe this is because he has been with his son since the beginning of Nelson's life
and is his blood; he belongs totally to him. He has grown with the child, and cherishes spending
time with him. As you can see, Rabbits major insecurities and his immaturity make it so he
cannot manage with the different problems in his life. Instead of dealing with problems
maturely, Rabbit runs away from everything he faces, hence the title of the novel, Rabbit, Run.
Rabbit does not have the mental strength to confront his everyday problems; the smallest
occurrences make him run.