The Disposable Rocket by John Updike (Text TOW#26)

       A gifted and respected Harvard graduate, Updike is well-known for his amazing ability to write, to perceive, and to describe. In his short essay “The Disposable Rocket,” Updike focused his scrutiny upon the common association of males. Nature has given humanity two types of people: men and women. However, the perception of these two genders is given by human societies. John Updike trespassed the multiple culture barriers and dived straight to the essence of masculinity: its essence and purpose. Appealing to male readers worldwide, Updike asserts that masculinity is both rough and fragile, driven uncontrollably by the desire to proliferate.

       Using a personal diction, Updike welcomes his audience to put his insight into masculinity to the test of their personal experiences and asserts his credibility as a writer, building both intimacy and convincingness. As he discusses the sensations of inhabiting a male body, Updike deliberately chooses to include words such as “I” or “our”, saying “My impulse to hurl myself from high windows and the edges of cliffs belongs to my body, not my mind”, saying “ I used to jump and fall just for the joy of it”, saying ”Our essence seems to lie not in cells and muscles but in the traces our thoughts and actions inscribe in the air” (Oates 551). The repeated reference of words such as “I” and “our” connects the audience, whom are presumably male, to the examination of masculinity Updike brings to the table. The readers can reflect upon their boyhood, their dreams, and their actions. The readers can re-call their desire to compete and to fly and the inevitable disappointment of falling.

       Assisting the use of personal diction is Updike’s extensive use of descriptive and slightly humorous similes, keeping the readers both engaged and aware. As Updike began to touch upon the sensible subject of male sexuality, he purposefully compared the sex organ to a “little brother”, stating “it is like having a smaller brother toward whom you feel both fond and impatient; if he is you, it is you in curiously simplified and ignoble form” (Oates 551). The delicate touch of comparing sex drive to a desirous little brother brilliantly avoided any discomforts a direct confrontation might bring to the male reader. However, the comparison at the same time appealed Updike’s opinion of masculinity with great clarity.

       Off the Rocket goes