Emotional Novel Rabbit, Run By John Updike

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
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