Tiwn Beds in Rome

When reading this story we all immediately saw how great Updike is at using sound devices. Just within the first few lines you here the prominent A, C, and T noises: "For their conversations, increasingly ambivalent and ruthless as accusation, retraction, blow, and caress alternated and canceled, had the final effect of knitting them even tighter together in a painful, helpless, degrading intimacy." When reading this quote out loud, you get a powerful statement because there are stresses in each and every word.  Updike creates an atmosphere where us readers want to continue reading because right off the bat, within the first paragraph, we already see sound devices.  Then just on the next page he uses another device.  Updike personifies the main characters marriage. "Bleeding, mangled, reverently laid in its tomb a dozen times, their marriage could not die."  We really liked this quote because it showed us how Updike does not just tell us their marriage has had many bumps but they somehow are still together and always will be.  He uses the personification to show us readers how the marriage is.  This is something we all enjoy most about reading these pieces from Updike.  You usually do not get the normal telling.  He shows us in creative ways.  Not only that we get to know the characters relationship really well without getting bored by a list of traits each character has. Updike does not stick to one device he consistently switches paragraph after paragraph to create the ultimate reading experience.

The Taste of Metal

"The Taste of Metal" is a short story that Updike wrote when Richard and Joan are still in the civil stages of their marriage.   It takes place at a party that Richard goes to with his wife, Joan, where he sees the attractive wife (Eleanor) of his co worker.  Throughout the night, Richard is showing interest in Eleanor and not his own wife, but his wife acts sincerely and lovingly toward Richard.  This surprised me because the stories earlier in the collection did not convey the caring emotions of Joan to Richard, and I concluded that Joan only treated Richard well when she noticed the intimate connection he had with Eleanor.  This is one sign of an unhealthy relationship.  Later on in the story, Richard decides that they're going to take Eleanor home and they driving through a big snow storm.  Joan keeps telling Richard to slow down but he does the opposite and suddenly crashes into a phone pole.  A car comes over to help them and asks if they need to be driven somewhere to get assistance.  Richard offers that his wife Joan goes with the stranger to call the police and he stays back with Eleanor and they begin to intimately embrace each other until the cops come.

I really enjoyed reading this story and it had a few interesting aspects and symbols that stood out to me, one being the recurring taste of metal.  I looked up what the taste of metal in a person's mouth can mean and all I found were some illnesses that would make you have the taste of metal in your mouth.  After closely reading the parts of the story over again with this symbol, I still don't understand what it's supposed to represent, but that gross metallic taste in your mouth could be foreshadowing bad things to come in the future.  The taste of metal is a symptom for certain illnesses so in this story, it could symbolize the feeling of wrongdoing or it could be foreshadowing the messy divorce between Richard and Joan.

Another interesting part of the story that stood out to me was at the very end when the narrator says, "Never ever again would his car be new, would he chew on his own enamel, would she kick so high with her vivid long legs."  I think that the new car that Richard just wrecked is a metaphor for his wife Joan and how she is no longer a fun, new wife.  He has been married to her for a long time and he's bored and ready for some "fresh meat", like Eleanor.  In this quote, the narrator tells us that he is sulking that his wife is no longer young and will never be again and he's stuck with her.  All of the symbols throughout the story foreshadow the upcoming misery in the lives of Joan and Richard Maple.

Divorcing

When reading Divorcing you get a feel sympathy for both main characters.  You can see the troubles and hardships they are going through throughout their whole entire marriage. The thing we liked most about this section of the book is that even though they were talking about suicide, depression, and how their marriage is crumbling into pieces, it ends on an oddly happier note.  It took us by surprise to see after such intense talking, there is this some what uplifting tone. ""You feel as guilty as a--" They waited together for what the simile would be. "Bedpost," she finished, taking the nearest thing to her, and they both had to laugh."
One thing Updike does so well is describe the tiniest emotions the characters have such as discomfort, realization for what is going to happen, or something as simple as the two characters having such a strong connection.  The description of this strong marriage is our favorite one because even though we all see their marriage is not going to last, they have something special that you would not see in a normal couple.  Richard, the main character, finishes Joan's sentences multiple times showing how he understands what she feels.  Divorcing lets us readers feel and experience the emotions Richard and Joan are going through.  All three of us enjoyed it a lot!

Parallel structure in Nakedness. Naked= sin?

There are a few themes of "sin-like" deeds that people do in this book. The leading male in the story (Richard) explains an event with a mistress he had that involved nakedness.
And there was a sexual-reference at the beach with Joan towards a naked man on the beach.
Is John Updike saying that nakedness always= naughty/bad/sin?

The repetitiveness of nakedness made a nice parallel structure throughout the story. From the title to the end the word "naked" was ringing throughout the story.

There was one phrase that really caught our attention that was repeated a few times throughout the story:
[Richard is talking/thinking] "I  felt her heart in the fatty casing of her body plump up."
This gave such a nice hint of the emotion he felt in the story. We really enjoyed it. Did that last  line that we quoted also ring in your head? Very impactful!
It seemed that it was also used in a parallel structure sense like the word "naked."

Nakedness. Does this title grab your attention?

Sex sells. In other words the title of John Updikes' short story "Nakedness" is attention grabbing. Off the bat you want to know who was naked? When were they naked? Where? Why? With who? Surprisingly Richard and Joan (a couple) and a young cop end up being on a nude beach. At first the couple and a cop standing near by are stunned that another couple ran by them naked, but they were curious to follow.

Again, all humans function that way. People want to know the juicy details to this "naughty deed" of being naked. It does take courage to follow a naked couple though... But they follow and what surprised us was that John Updike described the nude beach as having more clothes then the non-nude beach. It seemed that all the nude people had an emergency supply of clothes. But what for? Why did they have all these clothes? Why did the cop go with the couple to see the nude couple?

Wife-wooing

This short story called "Wife-Wooing" by John Updike is about the deteriorating relationship of a husband and wife.  The collection of short stories, "Too Far To Go" tells the stories of a declining marriage between two characters named Richard and Joan.  In this first short story that I read, Updike describes the actions of the wife Joan from the point of view of Richard which foreshadows the upcoming end to the marriage.  This short story does not clearly tell a story but it describes the actions of Joan which lets the reader formulate an opinion to where there the marriage between Joan and Richard is heading.  The way that "Wife-Wooing" is crafted is very intriguing because it gives insight into the mind of the wife and gives vivid descriptions of the way she looks, dresses and acts toward her husband.  What stood out to me the most about this short story is the way that Updike described Joan from Richard's point of view.  He spoke a lot about the way she dresses and how her skirts gently caress her thigh and knee.  Updike writes, "You allow this black skirt to slide off your raised knees down your thighs, slide up your thighs in your body's absolute geography, so the parallel whiteness of their undersides is exposed to the fire's warmth and to my sight."  Descriptions like this one of Joan are found throught the story.  While I read, I wondered why this husband describes his wife's appearence so descriptively but not once does he talk about his emotional connection with her?  This is an early sign of the love between them falling apart and how now their realtionship is solely based on lust.  My interpretation was validated when I read the line, "In the morning, to my relief, you are ugly."  Now that Joan wakes up and is ugly, he no longer feels a physical attraction toward her and now that there is no want for lust, there is no more connection between them at all.  Richard is satisfied to not be drawn in by her seductive looks.  I enjoyed the way John Updike tells the beginning of the two lovers' story through description, and by showing not telling which makes the story unique and interesting.  He also uses a lot of alliteration and consonance which enriches the writing and gives it a rhythm.  When I started reading this story, I didn't know if I was going to like it but then when I looked deeper into its meaning and significance in the collection of short stores of their marriage, I began to be more interested and found myself wanting to read on.