The Widows of Eastwick

Dreaming

2009-12-10T19:05:00.000-08:00

In their prime, Alexandra, Jane, and Sukie, had no problem conjuring up spells, causing chaos, fighting off evil, and sometimes creating alittle evil of their own. Now, as the trio travels back to their home town of Eastwick, their past seems to be a dream-like fantasy. Nothing they do when they return seems right or normal to them. To these three women, the new town of Eastwick, invaded by hockey moms and househusbands, goes against everything they know. It is like they are in a virtual reality and a dream like trance trying to fight their way out, but keep getting trapt in its grasp. The hold this town, their past memories, and their new memories have on them is a hyperreality. The line between what has happened, what is happening, and what will happen has been blurred and you dont know which way the story will go or if it will take a turn for the worst. This imagination twist makes it feel like you are there with Alexandra, Jane, and Sukie as they try to "counterspell conformity."

Time

2009-12-10T13:31:00.000-08:00

Alexandra, Jane, and Sukie were brilliant witches and in their prime in the 1970s. Time change and the passing of time is a major factor in the essence of this book. The three witches believe that by conjuring up their husbands and leaving their home town was a huge mistake on their part. As they wander back to their homely town, they realize how much the times and values of life have changed. They then realize that they arent afriaid of sin and neglect. They were neglegant mothers to their children and now see how little time they have for their grandchildren. These three witches are coming to grips with the fact that they are deteriorating and won't be around much longer and want to make amends, but nothing they do seems right to them and their old ways: forgiveness is a foreign concept to them and don't know how to start. As they try to change their ways, they realize that nature is beginning to turn against them and time seems to stand still while they revisit and work out the kinks of their past lives in this little town, as time dwindles on.

Character Study

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The three main characters in The Widows of Eastwick are Alexandra, Jane, and Suki.
"Alexandra, oldest in age, the broadest in body, and the nearest in character to normal, generous-spirited humanity..." (page 3) is the true main character of this novel. She is the first to lose her husband, the first to travel to an exotic land, and the first to propose to recollect the old friendships and insist on returning to Eastwick for some good-hearted trouble. She is also the one to make the strongest connection to nature and "Mother Earth" and embody the nuturing type relationship and bond with nature. The second main character is Jane, and is the complete opposite from Alexandra. Compared to Jane, Alexandra "felt helplessly more conspicuous, large and foreign and female, than petite, quick, impervious Jane. Alexandra attracted stares, and felt them cling, where Jane crossly brushed them aside and plowed on." (page 51) At this point, we start to see the major differences between these two witches. Already, we can tell that Jane has a very dark and wicked side that only progresses and grows throughout the novel. Yet, while being the most wicked witch of the bunch, she is the most "refined" and well put together of the bunch. We know this because she does not grieve over the loss of her husband, she simply states it and seemingly without emotion, which leads us to believe that she has even more supernatural and evil powers than the other witches. Sukie is the last witch introduced in the novel. Sukie is the most light hearted and free spirit of the three. She is not described with so much evil and madness as the others. Sukie, although fun-loving, caring, and most gracious of the three, try to do what is right, even she can not control her more demonic side. She entrances a passionate lover with such a strong magical hold, that he ends up beating his wife before hanging himself due to Sukie's "love spell." All three witches possess the qualities of evil and anger, but these feelings try to be repressed by Alexandra and Sukie to help them cope with their past and move forward, but this is held back by the wickedness that controls Jane, which makes all three of their pasts and karma catch up with these ladies and control the outcome of their lives.

Rhetoric Study

2009-12-09T13:47:00.000-08:00

There are many rhetorical devices used throughout the novel. One major device is the constant use of strong adjectives in conjunction with the use of metaphors. For instance, to describe the comparisons between Alexandra and Jane, Updike says that Alexandra "felt helplessly more conspicuous, large and foreign and female, than petite, quick, impervious Jane. Alexandra attracted stares, and felt them cling, where Jane crossly brushed them aside and plowed on." (page 51)This device continues on throughout the novel when Alexandra describes her need for others to need her and then goes on to tell us that no one in her family really needs her at all, not even her graddaughters, "not even her enchanting little granddaughters, with their long lashes, bright eyes, amusingly expanding vocabularies, and powder-soft, silky warm cheeks." (page 49)
The strong use of these adjectives help to convey the same feelings that Alexandra is feeling and how we should feel them at that time. Another rhetorical device used is the constant reference back to other religions and past times of the ancient ways. On these trips to Egypt, Canada, and back to their home town of Eastwick, the women discover how things used to be, such as how the Egyptians used to mummify and how they created tombs for the fallen Pharoahs, and in Canada how the Candadians treasure their disintegrating glaciers and how they are spiritually invloved with nature and the Earth. They are so passionate about their forests and wilderness that that is the major focus of the trips, both to Egypt and Canada. Imagery is another element portrayed throughout the book. The use of strong diction helps to draw the mental pictures of how their trips and lives fall into place. The use of flashback helps create the nostalgic feeling in the tone and mood of the book.

Themes of American Literature

2009-12-08T16:19:00.000-08:00

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.

Freedom

2009-11-24T12:54:00.000-08:00

The idea of freedom, or lack there of, is very prominent throughout the story. Updike previously described these three women as being carefree and willing to do anything they wanted, and always getting their way in their prime. But now, as they have grown older and a little wiser, the idea of freedom has slipped away from their vcabularies. They no longer feel as if they can do anything or conquer the world all at once with the bat of an eye or the flash of a smile. These women now understand that to gain freedom you must work for it first. But, not having to do this previously, they dont know how to go about getting what they want so they just figure that they should give up.

page 46: "We're not free. You're never free of wanting. Sam Smart used to tell me, the c*** is very sensitive, but not very smart. It doesn't know when to quit."

This just reinforces the lost idea of freedom and the joy they used to feel and have no sense of how to get it back, which is tragic because they used to have so much fun and joy in their previous lives.

Hamlet, Act I, Scene I

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And then (they say) no spirit can walke abroad,
The nights are wholsome, then no Planets strike,
No Faiery talkes, nor Witch hath power to Charme:
So hallow'd, and so gracious is the time.

This quote is at the very beginning of the novel. I was curious as to why he ( John Updike) would choose such a quote to begin a book with.

And then, they say, no spirit dares to walk abroad.
The nights are wholesome, no planets change course,
No fairy takes children, a witch has no power to charm,
The time is so holy and so full of goodness.

That is the translation i found of that particular quote. It states:

That no spirit dares to walk around in the open, when in the first book they fought the wicked spirit, also known as Darryl Van Horne, and the ladies won.
The nights are wholesome and the planets don't change course, when Alexandra, Jane, and Sukie believe in the changing of planets and full moons and super natural powers because they all have experienced them being possessed by themselves while in their prime.
No fairy takes children, a witch has no power to charm, is the most powerful line of the quote because it pertains directly to these three women. All three are witches and it says that they can not use their charm to either get out of trouble or to get their way, which is becoming truer everyday for these women because they are slowly dissintegrating towards their doom and inevitable death.
The time is so holy and so full of goodness, might be a foreshadowing moment when Updike is trying to tell us that good fortune will soon seek out these three women and help them along in their journey to these exotic places as well as their cross over to the other side.

Death

2009-11-23T23:34:00.000-08:00

Death is a reoccurring theme presented in this novel. Everytime something happy is at hand, the old widows have a thought of displeasure which then leads them to a conclusion of death and that their time on this earthly heaven is coming to an end. The disgust these three women show for death is almost diabolical because they disdain it so much, but i guess they have a right too because they have lived their life and are feeling the need to move on, but why do it in such a harsh manner with such vivid imagery as how it might happen? what dark and evil thoughts they have.

page 52: "Or a bomb planted to some obscure fanatic purpose might erupt, flattening and scattering all these packed and fragile stalls, her poor body, shredded by steel fragments, exploded with them."

Historical References

2009-11-23T23:25:00.000-08:00

Throughout the book, The Widows of Eastwick, John Updike uses many historical references to religion and older works of art, not just paintings but memorable sites and events. This shows a stronger trust of the writer because he knows so much about so many of these different places and shares all his knowledge with the reader. This makes him a more reliable source and worthy of the reader's trust, which a writer needs in order to entertain the reader, as well as inform, as well as help the reader continue reading.

page 64: " This...was the last place the old religion was practiced. It lasted until the sixth century A.D., for two hundred years after the Christian edict of Theodosius the First in 378 A.D. Then, it became a church."
page 63: "The next day brought them to lovable Kom Ombo, a double temple to the crocodile god Sobek and the late Horus-Haroeris, the falcon-headed, out to kill his uncle Seth, who had slain his father, Osiris."
page 61: " Final rooms held spells for the dead king's guidance from the Book of the Dead and depicted the figures of various deities to be encountered in the Underworld."

Image Study

2009-11-23T23:12:00.000-08:00

The Widows of Eastwick is the sequel to The Witches of Eastwick. This book wraps up the past thirty years of these three women, Alexandra, Jane, and Sukie. These women travel to exotic places and new lands all rekindling their forgotten fires and recharging them as they were in their prime back in the town of Eastwick, Rhode Island. John Updike portryas these women in new lights: a little older but still filled with that same passion they had in their earlier years.

In the beginning of the novel, Alexandra travels to Canada after the loss of her late husband. She goes on a group tour of the Canadian mountains. Updike describes these mountain tops and ski slopes with such vivid detail its as if you are there standing next to Alexandra feeling the rushed chill of the wind against your back as if you were standing in the valley of the mountain.

This cabin is like the place Updike describes in the Canadian Mountains where Alexandra takes her trip. The mountain cabin is secluded and begins to elude to the life that Alexandra is now living. In Eastwick, she had the time of her life, no cares in the world, but after doing that terribly tragic thing to Jenny Gabriel, she escaped into a hideout of life and began excluding herself from her old ways.

This image details the trip Alexandra and Jane took to Egypt after the passing of both husbands and reconnecting of the two friends. Alexandra rides a camel around one of the famous pyramids while Jane trys to snap shots of her dear friend, although seems to miss all the great shots (on accident).

Citations

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1.http://s3.amazonaws.com/adaptiveblue_img/books/widows_of_eastwick/john_updike

2.http://www.adelaide.edu.au/pgsa/events/photo_comp/015_Canadian_Rockies_Canada.jpg

3.http://fernieskivacations.com/images/destinations/cmc.jpg

4.http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/places/images/photos/photo_lg_egypt.jpg

5. Updike, John. The Widows of Eastwick. New York: Random House, 2008.

6.http://www.enotes.com/hamlet-text/act-i-scene-i?start=2