Rabbit, Run

Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.

1. Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom is a famously divisive protagonist. Where did you land in your feelings about him throughout the novel? Did you find him sympathetic, reprehensible, or a complex mix of both, and did your opinion of him shift by the end?

2. Rabbit, Run is the first novel in a quartet chronicling its hero’s life. How does it work for you as a standalone story, and does it make you curious to follow Rabbit’s journey in Updike’s later novels, like Rabbit Redux?

3. The novel concludes with Rabbit running once again, leaving his future uncertain. How did you react to this famously ambiguous ending? Do you see it as an act of liberation, an admission of failure, or something else entirely?

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. Rabbit is obsessed with his past glory as a basketball star, a nostalgia that poisons his present. Have you ever felt that a powerful memory of a past success made it harder to appreciate the present? How do you think people can balance honoring the past without becoming trapped by it?

2. How do you react to moments of personal crisis? Do you see Rabbit’s flight as a rational response to his situation or do you feel that the impulse to run is impossible to justify?

3. After being “first-rate” at basketball, Rabbit finds it impossible to accept being “second-rate” in his adult life. What are your personal criteria for a “first-rate” life? Do your criteria align with Rabbit’s?

4. Consider a personal mentor in your life and use them as the standard to evaluate Reverend Eccles’ attempts to counsel Rabbit. What made your relationship with your mentor valuable, and how did Eccles either embody or fail to embody the qualities of your relationship with your mentor?

5. Many characters seem to struggle with deep loneliness, even when they are together. How do you reconcile with the isolation of contemporary life, which is increasingly facilitated by the rise of digital technology? Is it easier to be alone now than it was in Rabbit’s time?

6. What are your feelings about Rabbit’s push to seek personal authenticity? Do you think such a quest is worthy to pursue in the face of great emotional and social cost? What does this suggest about the value of the authentic self in the context of a larger community?

Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

1. The novel is set in 1959, capturing a tension between the ideal of social conformity and the restlessness of the Beat Generation. How does Rabbit’s personal, impulsive rebellion compare to the more philosophical rebellion found in a work like Jack Kerouac’s On the Road or William S. Burroughs’ Naked Lunch?

2. What does the novel reveal about the roles and expectations for women in the late 1950s? How do characters like Janice, Ruth, Lucy Eccles, and Mary Angstrom navigate the constraints placed upon them by society?

3. The novel highlights the clash between Reverend Eccles’s modern, therapeutic faith and Reverend Kruppenbach’s rigid dogma. What does this contrast say about the spiritual landscape of postwar America and its impact on working-class Americans?

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

1. How does the meaning of escape change throughout the novel? Is Rabbit’s final run at the end of the book different in nature from the one he takes at the beginning? Does Updike ever frame the action of escape differently throughout the novel?

2. Basketball is a powerful symbol in the novel, representing a time of grace and purpose for Rabbit. Beyond his nostalgia, how might basketball explain the way Rabbit sees the world and mediates his relationships with others? Does he think of the world in terms of competitive sport?

3. Contrast the depictions of Rabbit’s escapes from home to discuss his assertion that other people must pay the price for him to be fully himself. What differentiates the triggers of each escape, how does Rabbit respond to these triggers, and how does Updike expose the consequences of this decision?

4. The intellectual Reverend Eccles and the instinctual Rabbit Angstrom are presented as foils. How do their different ways of navigating the world highlight the respective strengths and weaknesses of intellect and emotion?

5. Rabbit’s dream of the eclipsing discs provides him with a private “explanation of death.” What is the significance of this moment, and how does his personal cosmology contrast with the religious guidance offered by Eccles?

Encourage imaginative and creative connections to the book.

1. Reverend Eccles clearly wants to help Rabbit, but his methods are unsuccessful. Put yourself in Eccles’ shoes and consider how you might engage with him. What might you say to connect with him?

2. The book ends abruptly with Rabbit in motion. What do you think happens in the moments immediately following that final sentence? Where do you think he runs to next?