Separating

John Updike's, "Separating," is a short story that many people can relate too. Many households go through the same exact problems that the Maples do in this story. Richard Maple is the father that has committed adultery. Most of the story is about him having to break the news to his four children. All of the children reacted in completely different ways. That was to be expected though because they were all of different ages. Richard was a very selfish man in this story. First of all he had another woman that he hoped to marry and he was not even concerned about how wrong he had been doing his entire family. Another way he was selfish was by not even telling the children the truth or reason for the separation. They probably would just assume that the parents aren't getting along and not the fact that their dad had betrayed them. This story shows how America's society today looks at marriage. Divorce has become so common that it did not seem like a huge deal to anyone. The ending to this story was awful. It ends by Dickie asking his dad "Why?" and Richard did not even have an answer. It just left the reader hanging, not even knowing if they go ahead with the separation or if he marries the other woman or what. Despite the ending, this was a great story and may possibly one day be looked back on as a reference of America in this time period.