The Writings of John UpdikeThe Rabbit books of John Updike tell the story of a man whose life is in constant turmoil. Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom’s downward spiral began the day his senior basketball season ended. Rabbit was a basketball player; he didn't know anything else. He married his high school sweetheart more out of convenience than love and worked at the same printing company as his father. Rabbit couldn't face the world of work, nor his parents, nor his wife and son. He was constantly caught somewhere between righteousness and sinful pleasure. Rabbit's mind was constantly wandering, searching for something to hold on to, something that would remain constant through the thick and thin of life. He needed another basketball. Rabbit's life is the perfect model for a case study in how not to live. Whatever came to his mind, he did it. Rabbit cheated on his wife, ignored his mother, was unaffected when his wife left him, started dating an eighteen year old girl when he was well into his thirties, and made no attempt to hide anything from his twelve-year-old son, Nelson. . Rather than getting tough when times were tough, Rabbit ran. He fled his pregnant wife, Janice, Nelson who was then twelve, his job, his parents, everything. Rabbit practiced the opposite of perseverance. When life wasn't going well, Rabbit simply moved on. Rabbit matters because he was so wrong. Our thoughts often imitate Rabbit's actions. But Rabbit takes over for us. His twisted and perverse life shows us that the choices he made were the wrong ones. This is not to say that he was pious, but like Jesus, Rabbit suffered for our sins. How often do we get bored in life, wishing we could move on, give up and start again? Every time we do it, we can remember Rabbit. Rabbit reminds us that without work, life is not fulfilling. He shows us that we cannot start over, that we can never give up on our life. Rabbit shows us that we have to live with our mistakes, that we can't just act like they never happened. Rabbit tries to run, but he can't. It reminds us that people don't just forget and move on.