Separation John Updike Analysis

John Updike’s separating, is a short story about a middle aged couple who are contemplating divorce, due to the husbands continuous affairs with another woman. After reading the short story, my observation is that the root cause for the dissolution of the Maple family is due to what we call a “mid-life crisis”, mostly from Richards’s dealings with his crisis in particular. This is the explained restlessness that most adults experience at one time or another, as they enter their middle age years. The cause of the “mid-life crisis” stems from the unsureness of the decisions that were made while in their 20’s and 30’s, and the realization that as they have aged, they may have encountered some physical limitations. Richard is feeling overwhelmed, and breaks free from his reality, that ultimately destroys his family and marriage in the process.

In the beginning, the main character, Richard, was struggling with how to convey the bad news to his four children, at which he refers to as the "four knifelike walls". Richard and Joan Maples know their four children will become distraught when they announce their plans to separate. However, it seems that some of the children may have already caught on to the fact that something was missing from their parents’ marriage and divorce was long in coming. Collectively speaking, their responses imply that certain observations had been made over a prolonged period of time that lead the children to conclude that this action was predestined. Meanwhile, the Maples debate whether the kids should be told together or individually. Egotistically, Richard was only thinking about himself and his emotions, instead of his children’s. His guilty conscience begins to become apparent about his affair, when he gras...

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...e crucial, intelligent word: Why?” (1433). “Why. It was a whistle of wind in a crack, a knife thrust, a window thrown open on emptiness.” (1433). “The white face was gone, the darkness was featureless, Richard had forgotten why” ("Separation" 1433).

The author isolates the character of the father/husband when speaking of Richard. Perhaps he identified with him in some sort of way. Absent any other causal factors, I concluded that the root cause for the principal members of the Maple family to be "Separating" lies with the Richard’s desire to recapture his lost youth. This happens frequently to most adults in their 40’s and 50’s, and the outcome of a family and marriage is in most cases ends up being divorce or separation. I enjoyed the story, as I can relate to the separating of the family. It is never an easy situation for all parties involved, regardless of age.