Rabbit, run happy endings
Rabbit, run happy endingsA Race to Find Happiness
There is something extraordinarily powerful about the euphoria associated with happiness. What causes this and where does it come from? Some say it has to do with a completeness in one's self, a sense of well being and understanding. It also comes from living for the present, and living for the future; from making others happy, and from enjoying our enemies' misery; from being with others, and from living in peaceful solitude. Different people experience different exhilarating emotions that are played through the acts of living. It is from this that we open our eyes to see what is fresh, for one's state of happiness or unhappiness colors everything else.
People who are happy perceive the world as safer, make decisions more easily, rate job applicants more favorably, and report greater satisfaction with their whole lives. When your mood is gloomy, life as a whole seems depressing. Let your mood brighten, and suddenly your relationships, your self-image, and your hopes for the future all seem more promising. In John Updike's novel, rabbit, run, Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom is a man who wants constant change. He hasn't found his happiness so he runs away from what he knows as life to something new, in hopes that he can find his answer. For some people happiness is a walk in the woods, a sunny view of a waterfall, or some other experience of the tranquility and beauty of unspoiled places. Such settings may free us from stress that triggers bad moods or may put us in touch with a place in ourselves that is beyond unhappiness. For Rabbit it seems to be women and sexual compatibility and being in control.
Rabbit's passions flowed along the path of lust and sexual fulfillment. When he was with Ruth, everything seemed to be about being pleased sexually and having it whenever he was in need. He thought merely of himself and not of the desires that Ruth might have, or what she might want in their relationship. He barely even noticed how sick she had gotten and failed to realize that it was because she was pregnant. He wanted sex and he would take it anyway he could. In the time period that this took place, his desires posed as a problem. Elaine Tyler May quotes in Sex, Women and the Bomb, "Sexual 'deviants' were allegedly security risks because they could be easily seduced, blackmailed, or tempted to join subversive organizations, since they lacked the will and moral stamina to resist." (May, 95). For Rabbit he couldn't say, "no" and wouldn't say, "no". Sex was his way out; it was the cure to his problems and it made him happy. He did not think about his family and what running away would do to them. He was not the typical 1950's family man that everyone watched on...
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