The story of Summer Essay example -- Literary Analysis, David Updike

The story of Summer, by David Updike, is set during that idyllic time in life when responsibility is the last word on anyone's mind. And yet, as with all human affairs, responsibility is an ever-present and ever-necessary aspect to life. What happens when the protagonist, Homer, loses his awareness of a certain personal responsibility to maintain self-control? Homer's actions increasingly make him act foolishly, internally and externally. Also, how does Homer return to a sense of sanity and responsibility? To a degree, I would say that he does. At first, Homer's control over himself seems strong; he is only mildly aware of tempting situations. The reader begins to notice, however, that Homer's mind is still easily swayed by that most primitive of urges - sexual desire. The passage, "Homer looked up. Through the screen he watched Fred's sister Sandra as she came ambling down the path, stepping lightly between the stones in her bare feet," (293) is the first mild manifestation of Homer giving in to a loss of control to his sensual appetite. The next case of Homer's decreasing ability to control himself takes place on a tennis court. Throughout the game, the reader gets the impression that Homer was trying to get Sandra's attention through talented athletics, "On the tennis court she was strangely indifferent to his heroics." (293) Towards the end of the tennis match, Homer's eyes, once again, follow her as she is leaving, which leads him to double fault. This is the first time his decreasing self-control manifests itself in a somewhat harmful manner: namely, having hurt his score. Homer comes even closer to abandoning self-control during the night when he watches Sandra in bed. Homer's decreasing self-control is beginning t... ...e of sanity and self-control. Given the chance to show Sandra his affectionate lust, Homer withdrew his chance as one reads in the passage, "But to touch her, or kiss her, seemed suddenly incongruous, absurd, contrary to something he could not put his finger on." (296) Here Homer is becoming quite aware of the insanity which has driven his previous actions. Finally, Homer's inner turmoil is laid to rest and his sanity fully returns as his affection is returned. At the very end of the story, as Homer and Sandra are sitting on a couch together, her foot comes into contact with Homer's back. "But to Homer's surprise Sandra's foot remained, and he felt, in the faint sensation of exerted pressure, the passive emanation of its warmth, a distant signal of acquiescence." (296) Homer still had a desire for Sandra, but it would not consume him as it had in times before.