John Updike Biography Essay

Biography

John Updike was born on March 18th, 1932 to Wesley and Linda Updike. Weasley was a junior high school math teacher, while Linda was an author who was not published until she was middle aged. The three of them lived in Shillington, Pennsylvania, and they stayed there for the first thirteen years of Updike’s life. But, he did not stay in Shillington for long, for shortly thereafter they moved to Plowville, Pennsylvania to live on their grandfather’s farm. Updike hated Plowville, and felt very isolated there. Although Updike’s mother seemed to be almost enchanted by the farm, Updike did not share the same feeling. During his time in Plowville, he found his love for reading and writing, as he would read and write to distract himself
from this isolation. As a child, John Updike dreamed of being a cartoonist for Walt Disney or even the New Yorker. Updike’s love for drawing and writing was greatly honed throughout his high school years as well, as he contributed 285 drawing to his high school newspaper. After high school, he received a full scholarship from and attended Harvard University by the insistence of his mother. He wrote during college as well, and wrote in the Harvard Lampoon. While attending Harvard, he married Mary Pennington. (Cooledge [database]) (Shoshtak [database]) (Werlock [database])

Updike’s relationship with his mother was very interesting. Linda is actually a large reason that John became an author. His mother's passion for writing rubbed off on him, and she encouraged him to continue writing throughout his childhood. Although Linda Updike was the person who inspired John to begin writing and pursue being an author, she was not a perfect mother. John Updike was born in Shillington, Pennsylvania, a suburban area around Reading Pennsylvania. He loved it here and thrived, as he had many friends and was getting good grades. But, for her own selfish reasons, Linda forced the family to move onto her grandfather's old farm in Plowville, Pennsylvania. Although the Shillington was only about eleven miles away, the move was devastating to Updike. He felt disconnected from his real home because of the move. Updike loved his mother, but he could never completely forgive her. He loved Shillington more than anything in the world, and he saw it as the most amazing place in the world. Although the move was insignificant for Linda, Updike felt ripped away from where he belonged. She was also generally controlling and overbearing of John Updike’s life, which caused the complicated relationship John and Linda developed. (Manand [online]) (Cooledge [database])

After graduating from Harvard, Updike and his wife moved to Manhattan. Their first two children were born here. Updike wrote for The New Yorker, and was finally living out his childhood dream. He lived there for a couple years, but then moved his family as he said city life was too expensive, and he felt unimportant in such a highly populated area. Here, he could focus on his writing. He did not feel like he needed to be isolated or in any elite group of sorts, unlike many other authors at this time. Instead, he felt most comfortable as an average small town middle-class person, and felt the average-man perspective produced his best writing. (Cooledge [database])

This intelligent boy from a small town had a different side to him that is surprising to some. Against the stereotype of southerners, Updike did not believe in monogamy, and committed adultery on several occasions. He had two affairs without his wife, Mary’s, consent, and also was in a group of adulterers whom all had affairs with each other. One was so disastrous “that he and his wife were banished from Ipswich, Massachusetts, where they lived at the time, fleeing briefly to the south of France.” (Freeman [online]) During one of these circles, he met the woman who later became his second wife Martha. And, ironically, his ex-wife Mary ended up marrying Martha’s ex-husband as well. Updike believed that marriage was unattainable, and that you could fall in love with more than one person. He claimed that he fell in love with both of the women he had affairs with, The first woman he had an affair with was Joyce Harrington. But, the relationship ended because Joyce’s husband found out about the affair.Next, Updike had an affair with Martha Benhard. But, this relationship was much more successful that Joyce’s , as Martha and Updike ended up getting married. But, Updike and Bernhard’s ex-spouses were not bitter, as they both ironically married each other as well. (Freeman [online]) (Manand [online])
John Updike’s life was very interesting.
His humble beginning was in Shillington, PA, before he later moved to Plowville, PA, He disliked Plowville, but his mother loved the area so she forced him and his father to live there. To cope, John began to write and draw comics, which later developed into his love for writing. He drew 258 submissions for his high school newspaper, and later attended Harvard University on a scholarship and wrote for the Harvard Lampoon. John and his Mother’s relationship is very interesting, as she is described as overbearing and was the person who forced John to move away from Shillington. But, John’s mother also inspired him to become an author, as she was an author as well. This caused John to have mixed feelings about his mother. John also did not believe in monogamy, as he had several affairs while he was married. But not only did he have affairs behind his wife’s back, but his wife knew about some of these affairs. The couple was even a part of a friend group where every couple had an affair with members of another couple. These facts all together show the unique life John Updike had. John Updike drew inspiration from his life to write many of his stories, especially from his divorce and affairs, and his relationship with his mother. (Manand
[online])