Rabbit, Run

The imagery of nets and traps appears repeatedly throughout Rabbit, Run. Discuss this recurring idea in the context of Harry’s nickname, “Rabbit.” When does Updike evoke the naturalistic image of rabbit and trap over the course of the titular character’s journey? How does it deepen the novel’s themes about freedom and responsibility?

Evaluate Updike’s critique of modern religion by comparing it to contemporary manifestations of the institution. Does Updike’s critique still hold up today? Why or why not?

How does Updike use setting to amplify the feelings of the characters who inhabit them? Consider the following locations: the cluttered Angstrom apartment, the structured golf course, and the natural wilderness of Mt. Judge.

Rabbit, Run was published in the wake of the Beat Generation, whose writers like Jack Kerouac celebrated rebellion against 1950s conformity. Is Rabbit’s spiritual crisis consistent with the anxieties or ideals of the Beats, or does he represent a counterpoint that complicates the emotional portrait that the literature produced during this era tries to capture? Explain your answer.

The opening epigraph from Blaise Pascal evokes the Christian resistance to the Enlightenment since Pascal is known for having attempted to reconcile the relationship between faith and reason. What are the alternatives the novel offers to religion? How does Updike expect Rabbit to live in the absence of religious institutions?

Examine Rabbit’s relationships with Mrs. Smith and Lucy Eccles. In contrast to Janice and Ruth, how do these women represent different paths or modes of existence for Rabbit? How does his treatment of them reveal his deeply conflicted and self-serving views on love, affirmation, and responsibility?

The novel alludes to Rabbit’s time in the Army as a formative moment in his life. How does this drive Updike’s examination of the impact that World War II had on the American male psyche? How might this impact help to explain Rabbit’s impulses and worldview?

Rabbit’s nostalgia is framed as a fatal flaw for his character. How might it also function as a critique of the American Dream and the unsatisfying quality of the economic system that Rabbit has no other choice but to inhabit in the United States’ postwar period?