Dec 26, 2009

Rabbit, Run | Characters

Updike centers not one, but four, novels around Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom, so it is to be expected that his development, or lack of it, commands most of the narrative. Rabbit's inner life and his quest for meaning and grace occupy most of the omniscient narrator's focus, but on three occasions, the narrator takes readers into the consciousness of other characters: Janice, his wife; Ruth, his lover; and Eccles, his wife's Episcopal minister.

Janice is portrayed as the principle stumbling block to Rabbit's happiness, an immature wife and careless mother who has "just yesterday...