His rash and irresponsible behavior leads to a series of misfortunes that climax with the accidental drowning of his newborn daughter.
The fight between flesh and spirit is rampant in Rabbit, Run as Rabbit desperately searches for some sense of meaning in his life. Youthful minister Jack Eccles befriends Rabbit, believing he can put the broken Angstrom family back together. He and Rabbit discuss religion while they play golf and Rabbit admits "that somewhere behind all this … there's something that wants me to find it." He searches for that something by having an extra-marital relationship with Ruth Leonard. In a similar way, he searches for that something in his wife's wounded body and in his flirtation with the minister's wife. Rabbit's tendency to sexualize everything is connected to his fear of death, a fear that propels him toward any hint of grace or spiritual gratification he can find.
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