{"id":676,"date":"2015-06-20T14:44:54","date_gmt":"2015-06-20T14:44:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/?p=676"},"modified":"2015-07-17T17:59:58","modified_gmt":"2015-07-17T17:59:58","slug":"on-rabbit-and-60-is-the-new-30","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/?p=676","title":{"rendered":"On RABBIT – and “60 is the new 30” – (Part II)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"http:\/\/blog.modernmechanix.com\/mags\/SaturdayEveningPost\/2-1969\/cover.jpg\"<\/em><\/p>\n

The last issue of the Saturday Evening Post<\/strong>, published on February 8, 1969…
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Welcome back to the \u201cGeorgia Wasp\u2026\u201d<\/h3>\n

We were remembering the last decades of the 20 century, as memorialized by and through John Updike’s series of five “Rabbit” novels.\u00a0 (Or four novels and a novella<\/em>…)<\/p>\n

I’d noted that Janice Angstrom – by now Harry’s widow – ended up married to Ronnie Harrison in Rabbit Remembered<\/a><\/em>, the last of the series.\u00a0 (Thelma Harrison – Ronnie’s wife – had also died, and was one of the women with whom Harry had “an affair.”)\u00a0 And not to put too fine a point on it, Harry and Ronnie had known – and hated – each other since high school, when they were teammates on the basketball squad.\u00a0 (They also “shared” Ruth Byers, at different times.)<\/p>\n

So now that your up to speed – he wrote sarcastically<\/em> – let’s get back to the Rabbit is Rich<\/a><\/i> time frame.\u00a0 In mid-winter 1979 the Angstroms jet off to Jamaica, where they end up in an initial wife swap<\/a><\/em> with two other couples.\u00a0 (That’s when Harry first learns that Ronnie’s wife Thelma has the hots for him<\/em>.)\u00a0 But then they have to go back home before the second<\/em> swap, where Harry would have “known<\/a>” the wife he really<\/em> wanted (Cindy Murkett). \u00a0 Son Nelson is causing no end of problems at the dealership, including smashing up two trade-in convertibles.<\/p>\n

The next sequel, Rabbit at Rest<\/a><\/i>, starts with Harry and Janice spending the winter of 1988-89 at their condo in Florida.\u00a0 They leave Nelson in charge<\/em> of the dealership, which turns out to be a mistake.\u00a0 (He’s hooked on cocaine, which leads Toyota to “pull out,” Freudian slip<\/a><\/em> intended.)<\/p>\n

Other incidents include Harry having a heart attack – based on his crappy diet – and having a one-night stand with Nelson’s wife Pru while he recuperates.\u00a0 (Not to mention brief appearances by Annabelle, Harry’s daughter, who’s become a nurse’s aide.)<\/p>\n

“Janice’s anger over this betrayal prompts Harry to escape to Florida.” (Wikipedia<\/a>.)\u00a0 Which leads to one inescapable conclusion:\u00a0 Harry was a bit of a sleazeball<\/a>, albeit loveable to some.<\/p>\n

\"\"And finally came Rabbit Remembered<\/a><\/i>, set in late 1999.\u00a0 (On the eve of the\u00a0New Millennium<\/a><\/em> noted above. )\u00a0 Harry has died – of another heart attack – while living alone in the Florida condo he “ran” to at the end of Rabbit at Rest<\/em>.\u00a0 Nelson is still living with his mother, and<\/em> her new husband Ronnie Harrison, Harry’s old nemesis ever since high school.\u00a0 Nelson’s wife Pru has taken their two children Judy and Roy back to Akron Ohio.\u00a0 Then Annabelle shows up at Janice’s door; her mother Ruth has just died as well.<\/p>\n

Aside from Ronnie calling Annabelle\u00a0“the bastard child of a whore and a bum” at Thanksgiving, the saga includes a tale of childhood sexual abuse, and one of Nelson’s clients committing suicide.\u00a0 (After his bout with cocaine, Nelson became a certified mental-health counselor, thanks in part to a course of study at the “Hubert F. Farnsworth Community College.”\u00a0 Farnsworth was the surname of the same “Skeeter” who’d lived with Harry, Nelson and Jill in the summer of 1969.\u00a0 Skeeter later died in shootout with Philadelphia police.)<\/p>\n

To cut to the chase<\/a><\/em>, the final book ends with an uncharacteristic – for Updike – note of hope.<\/p>\n

\"\"In the rush to make the Y2K celebration, Nelson drives recklessly through an intersection – the stoplights have all gone out – and faces death in the form of a “cocky brat in a baseball cap.”\u00a0 The cocky brat<\/em> drives an SUV and goes out of turn at a four-way stop.\u00a0 Nelson – with decades of “wrongs, hurts, unjust deaths press[ing] behind his eyes” – faces death<\/em> and comes out unscathed. (As Winston Churchill – seen at right – said, “There is nothing more exhilarating than to be shot at with no result<\/a>.<\/em>“)\u00a0 This act of bravery magically rekindles Pru’s love; “Oh honey, that was great<\/em>…”\u00a0 Then too, riding in the back seat are Annabelle and Nelson’s childhood friend – and part-time nemesis – Billy Fosnacht.\u00a0 In the end these<\/em> lost souls start “seeing each other.”<\/p>\n

As noted, this happy ending was uncharacteristic of Updike, but aside from that the last novella was enjoyable.\u00a0 And as was<\/em> <\/strong>characteristic of Updike’s writing, the detail is so thick that I found myself skipping much of it to get to the action.\u00a0 As Charles Portis<\/a> might say, Updike’s writing lulls you into a sense of woolgathering<\/a>, and then he socks it to you<\/a> with an unexpected twist<\/a><\/em>.\u00a0 The result was that I went through Rabbit Remembered<\/em> the first time quickly, from a sense of impatience more than anything.\u00a0\u00a0 But now I’ve gone back and started re-reading it, to get the full flavor of the aforementioned Updike attention to detail.<\/p>\n

More than that, I pulled out my worn and battered copy of Rabbit Redux<\/em><\/strong>, now some 40 years old itself. \u00a0 (I bought the 1971 “Alfred A. Knopf” edition four or five years after it was first published.)\u00a0 And re-reading Rabbit Redux<\/em> brought back some points I’d forgotten.<\/p>\n

For example, on page 9 there’s a bit of foreshadowing, one of Updike’s lesser-known fortes<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"\"It’s the summer of 1969.\u00a0 Harry and his father Earl have gotten off work “from the little printing plant at four sharp.”\u00a0 They have a drink at a neighborhood bar, before taking separate buses home, in opposite directions.\u00a0 Earl asks his son to visit “some evening before the weekend.”\u00a0 (Mary Angstrom “has had Parkinson’s Disease for years now.”)\u00a0 Harry responds:<\/p>\n

“I don’t like to leave the kid alone in the house.\u00a0 In fact I better be getting back there now just in case.”\u00a0 In case it’s burned down.\u00a0 In case a madman has moved in.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Which is of course just what happens later in the book.\u00a0 A madman – in the form of “Skeeter,” later identified by the Brewer Vat<\/em> as Hubert Farnsworth – does in fact move in with Harry.\u00a0 He does so at the invitation of Jill, a runaway from Connecticut.\u00a0 She in turn dies in the fire set by neighbors repelled by the “goings on” in the house, after<\/em> Janice had moved in with Charlie…<\/p>\n

\n

But a more personal tidbit comes a bit later, when father and son are settling the bar bill.\u00a0 Earl Angstrom had a Schlitz beer, and tells his son, “Here’s my forty cents.\u00a0 Plus a dime for a tip.”<\/p>\n

“Are you kidding me?”<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Which is being interpreted:<\/em>\u00a0 “Do you mean to say there once was a time when you could go into a bar, pay 40 cents for a beer and leave a dime for the tip?\u00a0 And not<\/em><\/strong> get thrown out or insulted?”<\/p>\n

The answer?\u00a0 Rabbit Redux<\/em> reminds us that, “Yes, Virginia, there was such a time<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

But the really interesting tidbit – so far – turns on Harry’s mother turning 65.\u00a0 Updike wrote of Earl<\/em> Angstrom that he “looks merely old” once outside the bar, “liverish scoops below his eyes, broken veins along the sides of his nose.”\u00a0 When Harry asks about their finances Earl responds, “Believe it or not there’s some advantages to living so long in this day and age<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 This Sunday she’s going to be sixty-five and come under Medicare.”<\/p>\n

On Sunday Harry goes to the house with Nelson.\u00a0 (Janice is at Charlie’s.)\u00a0 His mother greets him:<\/p>\n

“I’m sixty-five,” she says, groping for phrases, so that her sentences end in the middle.\u00a0 “When I was twenty.\u00a0 I told my boyfriend I wanted to be shot.\u00a0 When I was thirty…”\u00a0 “You told Pop this?”\u00a0 “Not your dad.\u00a0 Another.\u00a0 I didn’t meet your dad til later.\u00a0 This other one, I’m glad.\u00a0 He’s not here to see me now.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"StSo notwithstanding the fact that Mary has Parkinson’s<\/a>, Updike’s overall image of 65-year-olds in 1969 is of people who really are over the hill<\/a>.\u00a0 (“Living so long in this day and age?”\u00a0 Really?<\/em><\/strong>)\u00a0 Or as they used to say of St. Petersburg, they were in “God’s Waiting Room<\/a>” (shown at left):<\/p>\n

\n

St. Pete became a mecca for retired people. \u00a0They flocked to the sunshine and lived in the many residential hotels in the downtown area. \u00a0The symbol of St. Pete became old people sitting on the many green benches that dotted the sidewalks of the city.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

But just like 40-cent beer you could buy in 1969 (plus a dime for the tip), those days are long gone.\u00a0 See for example “60 is the new 30<\/a>,” and also “Why<\/em><\/strong> 60 Is The New 30<\/a>.”\u00a0 The latter post noted that the “55-64 age group has shown the largest increase in entrepreneurial ventures, now accounting for more than 20 percent of all start-ups.”\u00a0 (Thus literally “starting over when our grandparents would be strolling around golf communities in Florida.”)<\/p>\n

I should note that there is some debate on whether 60 is the new 30<\/em>, or the new 40<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 See\u00a0Is 60 the New 40<\/a>? –\u00a0 which noted that what elderly<\/em> “meant to the Greatest Generation doesn’t hold for their offspring, the baby boomers.”\u00a0 There’s also 60, Not 50, Is The New Middle Age – Huffington Post<\/a>, and New research shows 60 is the new 40 – KING5<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Increasingly, people over 60 feel more like 40, and now they have the science to back them up…\u00a0\u00a0 The new research argues that since life expectancy continues to rise, age 60 should not be considered old.\u00a0 It’s more “middle age,” because for many, there’s a lot of living left to do after age 60, even embarking on second or third careers.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Or as you might say of the Christie Brinkley image below:\u00a0 “Now that’s<\/strong> turning 60!<\/em>”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u00a0\"http:\/\/img2-2.timeinc.net\/people\/i\/2014\/news\/140210\/christie-brinkley-300.jpg\"A good argument for “60 is the new 30…”<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The upper image is courtesy of blog.modernmechanix.com\/issue\/?pubname=SaturdayEveningPost<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

The Churchill image is courtesy of Winston Churchill – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

The Armstrong-on-the-moon photo is courtesy of 1969 – Wikipedia<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

The lower image is courtesy of People<\/strong> magazine,\u00a0www.people.com\/people\/article\/0,,20780764,00.html<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The last issue of the Saturday Evening Post, published on February 8, 1969…   Welcome back to the \u201cGeorgia Wasp\u2026\u201d We were remembering the last decades of the 20 century, as memorialized by and through John Updike’s series of five “Rabbit” novels.\u00a0 (Or four novels and a novella…) I’d noted that Janice Angstrom – by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=676"}],"version-history":[{"count":152,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":929,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676\/revisions\/929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}