The Case of Ribbit Run by John Updike

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feeling is too overwhelmed to children and youth. It will cause them miserable and sad, and even lose the hope to the life. In conclude, children and young people will be affected easily by these kinds of negative feelings. Since they are already “at risk for experiencing overload” (Cynthia), it is harmful to their mental development.

Rabbit Run focuses on the act of “Run” from the beginning to the end, which can be seen as the encouragement of an “irresponsible” lifestyle. This kind of life attitude should not be presented to children and young people. Understanding the act of “Run” is the key to understand the thesis of the novel. The main character Harry is not satisfied with his meaningless life, and when he is failed to handle it, “Run” is his only solution. Harry’s act of “Run” is not only a way to escape from reality, but also the reflection his unconsciousness. As “an inadequate husband, an unreliable lover” (Lee), He is not satisfied with his job, his wife and his family. He used to be a super star in high school because of his outstanding performance in playing basketball. He is reluctant to accept the huge gap between the past and the reality. His behaviour of “Run” is dominated by the unconsciousness of escaping from the unsatisfied and meaningless life, to look for people who can satisfy him. His consciousness is not able to control his unconsciousness, and that’s why he decides to abandon his wife who has been pregnant as well as not to fulfill family responsibilities. Harry is easily controlled by his unconsciousness, and this psychological feature is similar to a rabbit, which is consistent with the name of the book. The young people don’t have enough experience to tell good from bad or right from wrong. As a result, they probably imitate what they have read. Such book as Rabbit Run with description of the “irresponsible” lifestyle leads children and teenagers to a wrong way. They may refuse to take the responsibility when they are supposed to, and take the action of “run”.

Persuading or encouraging narcissism excessively will bring negative influence to children and youth as well. The book contains such concept because narcissism plays an important role in explaining the character’s act. Harry uses the same attitude to treat sexual objects as to himself. Harry’s narcissism can be reflected in two forms, which are basketball and sex because these are what he most skilled in. Harry is used to be famous in the town, and he cannot forget his glorious past. Even at the beginning of the book, the author uses a whole paragraph to describe his outstanding skill on playing basketball. Whenever Harry feels frustrated, playing basketball will bring him back to his glorious past and become confident again. This “basketball complex” magnifies Harry’s feelings of self-obsession and narcissism, which directly leads to his act of “Run” when he is disappointed at his life. Harry’s another narcissism reflects on his ability of having sex with women. He always believes that he deserves the best sex; while in real life, he does not receive it from his wife Janice. Because of his self-admiration, he doesn’t care about his pregnant wife and little child. He “Runs” for his best experience of sex. In his mind, since he is so good at basketball, he should be best in bed as well. He wants to obtain the same satisfaction as in playing basketball but his wife are not able to do that. Therefore, he “Run” to Ruth Leonard, who is a part-time prostitute, for comfort and “the best sex”. Children and young people may not be capable to understand the real concept of narcissism, but they are aware of the behavior resulted from narcissism. For instance, even though teenagers do not understand why Harry chose to “run”, being immature, they tend to copy him by escaping from reality by “running”, which may lead to engage in crimes like vandalism, robbery or even endangering other’s life. If the book is not banned to them, they will gain the unacceptable values, which will be harmful to their further development.

To conclude, Rabbit Run is a huge success during that period of time; however, it is filled with sexual situations, negativity, encouragement of “irresponsible” lifestyles, and persuasion of narcissism. Therefore, the book are not supposed to introduce to children and young people, and should be banned from elementary and high schools. Children are too immature, so they can be easily influenced by what is said in the book. In order to keep our children and youth growing positively, it would be better not to present novels such as Rabbit Run to them.