1950s: A Decade of Conformity - The Study of John Updike's Rabbit Run

     John Updike’s story of a young man in 1950’s America in Rabbit, Run, published in 1962, is a perfect example of the rejection of the expected gender roles established by the contemporary society in the time period when the book was written .  This story clearly shows the consequences faced by those who refused to cave to those expectations.  Harry Angstrom, nicknamed “Rabbit,” yearns to find happiness in his life, but finds himself unhappy with his marriage, his family, and his job, although this is his expected role in life.   When he first attempts to run, he winds up in a café in West Virginia where he makes the observation that he does not fit in.  Rabbit realizes, “He had thought, he had read, that from shore to shore all America was the same.  He wonders, Is it just these people I’m outside or is it all America?”  Rabbit knows he was on the outside looking in, trying to find inner happiness and not finding it in his expected role as husband, father, and breadwinner.  Because he runs instead of owning up to his responsibilities as husband and father, however, he is not well-respected by most of society.

          Ruth, Rabbit's lover, shows admiration for Rabbit when she first encounters him, however, she changes her attitude towards Rabbit when she inadvertently falls into her expected role as a mother.  Ruth admits she likes Rabbit because he hasn’t “given up” and tells Rabbit, “In your own stupid way, you’re still fighting.”  In spite of this, after Ruth becomes pregnant, she sees Rabbit’s non-conformity in a different light knowing that his responsibility as a father should take precedence.  She admits Rabbit “just lived in his skin and didn’t give a thought to the consequences of anything.”  Rabbit is further dubbed as “the naughty man” by Reverend Eccles’ family for his appearance of selfishness in leaving his wife and taking up residence with Ruth.  Mrs. Springer confirms this sentiment when she states, “The only thing special about him is he doesn’t care who he hurts or how much,” when she discusses Rabbit with Reverend Eccles.  Because Rabbit does not do what he is expected, most of society sees him as a selfish, egotistic cad who only acts out of his own self-interests and for his own immediate self-gratification. 

          Although Rabbit is admonished for attempting to break free of his role in order to find his own happiness, he is also envied by Reverend Eccles for his brevity in standing up against his expected, traditional role.  Eccles understands Rabbit’s attempt to break away from the established expectations in order to find his own true happiness because Eccles also struggles with his own established role as minister and father.  He has been trying to please his own father by following in his father’s footsteps and becoming a minister.  Eccles, however, never feels as if he has his father’s approval and feels his own life is a “fraud” because he stands in front of his congregation every week “mouthing our Father when his heart knows the real father he’s is trying to please, has been trying to please all his life, the God who smokes cigars” has never once shown affection or admiration.  Because Eccles sympathizes with Rabbit, he makes every effort to try to help Rabbit find his way even after Rabbit’s family denounces him.  Because of his efforts, Eccles is reprimanded by his older colleague when he attempts to counsel Rabbit and Janice, Rabbit's wife, as this was not the expected role of the older generational minister.  Upon consulting with Fritz Kruppenbach, the Lutheran minister of Mt. Judge for the past twenty-seven years, Eccles is told in no uncertain terms, “do you think this is your job, to meddle in these peoples’ lives?  I know what they teach you at seminary now:  this psychology and that.  But I don’t agree with it.  You think your job is to be an unpaid doctor, to run around and plug up the holes and make everything smooth.  I don’t think that.  I don’t think that’s your job.” Kruppenbach’s scolding proves that any attempt to do more than the traditional function is denounced and criticized, especially when the attempt is to help a non-conformist such as Rabbit.  Unfortunately for Eccles, the approval he seeks from the older generation is again not found because of his efforts to do more than the expected.  Rabbit also struggles with gaining the approval of both his and his wife’s families; however, Rabbit’s own happiness overshadows his need for the older generation’s approval.  Eccles admires this in Rabbit because he wants to be able to break free completely, but knows he is bound by his own responsibilities and his own need for approval and, therefore, cannot completely abandon his established role.

       Only the 73-year-old Mrs. Smith truly understands Rabbit.  She hires Rabbit to tend to her late husband's garden.  The elderly Mrs. Smith, ironically, is the only person from whom Rabbit does not feel a need to run.  Mrs. Smith admires individuality as shown by her love of her only “true good pink” rhododendron, Bianchi, which is said to be one of a kind.  She also sees that in Rabbit, and admires his individuality as well.   However, both Mrs. Smith’s appreciation for individuality and Eccles’ admiration of self-fulfillment are the exception, not the norm, as shown by society’s hatred of Rabbit for his failure to conform.