Rabbit at Rest Study Questions & Topics for Discussion

Rabbit at Rest Key Questions

Questions about the character of Harry Angstrom are likely to dominate any discussion of Rabbit at Rest. Critics have also debated Updike's vision of America in this novel, and whether he brings the Rabbit series to any reasonable or fitting conclusion.

1. How does Updike develop the character of Angstrom in this final volume of the Rabbit series? Are there important changes from his earlier incarnations?

2. Updike admits that Rabbit at Rest is "a depressed book about a depressed man." How can readers defend the novel against such charges by its author?

3. Does the title character remain sympathetic despite or because of his obvious flaws? How should readers respond when Rabbit commits adultery with his own daughter-in-law?

4. What aspects of contemporary America does Updike satirize in Rabbit at Rest? How does he find comic material in the subject of...
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