Inside and Outside: Moral Goodness In Three Short Stories by John Updike
John Updike’s early short fiction written during the period between the late 1950s and mid 1970s confronts the issue of morality in post-World War II America. Updike wrote in his novel Rabbit, Run, “Goodness lies inside, there is nothing outside. . .” (325). Updike’s fiction shares in common the theme of inner goodness confronted with a world where morality is empty. In three of Updike’s short stories, “The Happiest I've Been,” (1958), “A&P,” (1960), and “Problems,” (1975) the author treats the subject of morality in three different but connected ...
