One theme in the book, The Widows of Eastwick, written by John Updike, is death. Death is a reoccuring theme throughout the book starting with the death of each husband. As the widows try to find ways to cope with their husbands death, they start to spend time with each other and rekindle lost friendships and decide to go on exotic trips with each other. In these new and exciting places these women discover that their entire world is filled with death and horror realizing this you think these women would be a little frazzled, but they seem fine with it and just go on about their lives knowing and accepting the fact that the ones they loved are now gone, they are soon to be next, and so they try to live freely while they can until the undeniable end comes to them.
In this book, a theme of their sexual past times is a very prominent and continuous theme made known in the first couple of pages. These women are nostalgic about their old lives and old ways of life in the little town of Eastwick. They come together, after they accept the fact that death is lurking at their door, and share old memories of their glory days and the only truly great memories or really good times they had were reliving their sexual pleasures. But on these trips, these women soon realize that what they are now, and what they used to be are two completely different things. This book helps to portray how the body, mind, and soul change and age with time and how you can never truly get your "glory days" back. This theme teaches you how to acknowledge this and move on.
A big theme, which you wouldnt get right off, are all the Puritan values and ways of life. This theme doesnt come easy because of the three women's acts and vulgar language, but maybe that goes with the era (?). The Puritan values were those of being very conservative and religious and if you sinned, that was a fate worse than death. Maybe this theme isnt so much about the Puritans but the way the three women rebel against the Puritan ways of life. Yes. Because they use such vulgar language and do so many horrific things is because they are trying to rebel and scrutinize the Puritan ways. The live in a small town, where everyone knows each other and their business, so these women create trouble and stir up gossip just to show that there is more to life, and people, than meets the eye.
