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=John Hoyer Updike by Chris Brannan= John Hoyer Updike is one of America’s novelists writing a vast collection of short stories and novels. Through research of the author I have came across information about his style and themes that he uses in his stories. John Updike moved a lot in his life in some of the stories he used the towns that he lived in as settings for the stories. One of his towns he lived in Shillington was turned into Olinger, Reading was Alton and Plowville turned into Firetown. One of the major themes the author touches upon is society. The short story A&P deals with a guy working at a store when three girls come in. He nicknames them by appearance naming the one “Queenie”. The theme is class structure of people meaning the guy will never be able to be with Queenie due to her status and she will never know that he sacrifice his job for her when his boss was being mean to her. Updike’s most famous series the Rabbit books are a good look into society. The main character Henry Angstrom is a former high school basketball star that is not able to break away from the past. Throughout the first novel he is unsuccessful and stuck in the past of his former glory. Henry Angstrom also faces the problem of a doomed marriage. His wife is a drunk and through the series they try to rekindle their marriage and resist the temptations of other people. Adultery is another major theme that is explored by Updike. Nathanial Hawthorne’s __Scarlet Letter__ is explored by Updike in a series where he creates new characters that are opposites of Hawthorne’s and explores themes of god. The last novel is a remake of Hawthorne’s Hester Prynne in a modern setting. Updike comes back to using events in his life to create stories. His short story “Separating” goes hand and hand with his end of his first marriage. In 1973 Updike took a tour of African countries and wrote the novel The Coup that took place in a fictional country. Besides using those themes Updike’s stories reflect the era in which he lived in. The story Couples reflects the era of the 60’s with themes of adultery used as a source of spiritual fulfillment reflecting the Sexual Revolution. While most of his novels conveyed the turbulent era of the 1960’s in the United States. One of Updike’s latest novels Terrorist deals with a radial Islamic teenager living in the United States and the lifestyle of the US and his beliefs. This book deals with the issues of the world currently showing Updike’s ability to write novels with themes that deal with the issues that are in the world. With this research I believe Updike’s message to the reader is showing them the lifestyle of humans and teaching them morals through the stories so they can change without it actually happening to them. If you take the Rabbit series with the problems Henry Angstrom has the reader will take those lessons and apply them to their lives so it will not happen to them. Annotated Bibliography Bloom, Harold. __Bloom’s Major Short Story Writer; John Updike__. Broomall: Chelsea House Publishers, 2001 The book __Bloom’s Major Short Story Writer; John Updike__ by Harold Bloom contains plot summaries on Updike’s stories with critical views from scholars. The book is laid out with an introduction and short biography on John Updike. The book contains five short story summaries with list of characters the critical analyzes from several scholars. I used the book to gather information on the Author’s life from where he was born to some of the major achievements Updike received. The critical analyzes were helpful in gaining an idea of the themes Updike writes about. The book is helpful of acquiring information and I would highly recommend it when starting research on authors. Detweiler, Robert. __John Updike__. Boston: Twayne Publishers, Inc., 1972 Detweiler’s John Updike is a collection of Updike’s stories. The book has a short chronology on the author’s life. The stories are divided into chapters that contain detailed summaries. The summaries discuss the plot while diving deeper into the themes and other symbols explaining what they mean. The book is very helpful into understanding Updike’s writing style. Also the text is straight forward and easy to understand. Morris, Ann. “John Updike.” Research Guide to Biography & Criticism 1985. <[|http://search.ehsocohost.com]> Ann Morris’ article on John Updike is a list of detailed information. The article starts with a simple list of his life before going into lists of his stories. The article talks about the inspiration for some of his stories. The article contains critical thoughts from scholars on some of his stories to explain the meaning in the stories. “Updike, John.” __Literary Encyclopedia__ (2005): 1. __Literary Reference Center__. EBSCO. The biography on John Updike is the most detailed information on the author’s life that I found. Within the biography talks about Updike’s life and also has information on his stories and what inspired him to write them and how the era that was going on what used as themes in his stories.