The Centaur by John Updike
"The Centaur," John Updike's third novel, is a poignant exploration of father-son relationships set in a small Pennsylvania town. The narrative centers around George Caldwell, a science teacher, and his fifteen-year-old son, Peter, as they navigate personal challenges and life-altering events during a winter marked by a snowstorm and George's health fears. The story interweaves mythological elements, drawing parallels between George and Chiron, the noble centaur of Greek mythology, while Peter embodies Prometheus, who defied the gods for humanity's sake. Through these connections, Updike delves into themes of identity, sacrifice, and the universal quest for understanding one’s father. The structure of the novel is varied, alternating between realistic storytelling and mythical narration, allowing readers to experience the depth of Peter's reflections on his father's daily sacrifices. This multilayered approach invites readers to engage with the text on different levels, as the characters' struggles and triumphs resonate across generations. Overall, "The Centaur" stands as a tribute not only to Updike's father but also to the complex dynamics of familial love and legacy.
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Subject Terms
The Centaur by John Updike
First published: 1963
The Work
The Centaur, John Updike’s third novel, won for him his first National Book Award. Its story is of George Caldwell, a science teacher in a small Pennsylvania town, and his fifteen-year-old son, Peter. Updike’s own father was a teacher in the high school in Shillington, Pennsylvania, and the book was in part intended to be a tribute to his father.
In January of 1947, George fears he may have cancer and goes after school for X rays. He and Peter then drive to a swim meet in a nearby town; their 1936 Buick breaks down, forcing them to spend the night. The next night a snow storm sets in during a basketball game, and the repaired Buick cannot get them all the way home. They walk the rest of the way through the snow and find out that the doctor has called—George does not have cancer. Peter has developed a severe fever, so he stays home the next day as George goes through the snow to school, realizing that his fate is not to die, but to live.
Peter is remembering these events fifteen years later, and the reader realizes that they were not just ordinary trials of a schoolteacher and his son, but crucial experiences in one boy’s undertaking the universal task of finding one’s father—and one’s own identity. To reinforce this universality, Updike utilizes myth.
The book’s title comes from the identification of George Caldwell with Chiron, the noble centaur (half-man, half-horse) who gave his life so Prometheus might be freed from punishment for giving humanity fire. Peter is identified with Prometheus; Hummel, the garage mechanic, represents Vulcan, god of the forge; the principal of the school is also the king of the gods, and so on.
The first and last chapters of the novel shift between describing a two-legged high school teacher and a four-legged centaur. Chapter 3 is entirely mythical, describing children under Chiron’s instruction on Mt. Olympus. Chapter 5 is objectively narrated; chapter 7 is an impressionistic variety of scenes. Chapters 2, 4, 6, and 8 are told in the first person by Peter, with only tangential mythological references.
The mythical parallels give the book a quality of surprise and suggest a multilayered reality, but Updike recognized that many readers would not immediately recognize the different layers, so he provided an index that identifies specific allusions. As an adult, Peter recalls the daily sacrifices his father made for him; George’s task, however, was not to die like Chiron, but to live; “he discovered that in giving his life to others he entered a total freedom.”
Bibliography
Campbell, Jeff H. Updike’s Novels: Thorns Spell a Word. Wichita Falls, Tex.: Midwestern State University Press, 1987.
Detweiler, Robert. John Updike. New York: Twayne, 1984.
Greiner, Donald. John Updike’s Novels. Athens: Ohio University Press, 1984.
McNaughton, William, ed. Critical Essays on John Updike. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1982.
McTavish, John. “John Updike and the Funny Theologian.” Theology Today 48 (January, 1992): 413-425. McTavish argues that the influence of Karl Barth is especially apparent in Rabbit Run, The Centaur, and On the Farm. In the case of The Centaur, McTavish buttresses his argument by citing the epigraph from Barth that announces the novel’s theme, the covenant of grace.
Schiff, James A. John Updike Revisited. New York: Twayne, 1998. In this readable, up-to-date overview, Schiff endeavors to understand Updike’s entire body of work, putting individual works in context for the reader. Schiff provides commentary on works that have largely been ignored by the public as well as books that have received little critical attention. Includes an analysis of The Centaur.
Sethuraman, Ramchandran. “Updike’s The Centaur: On Aphanisis, Gaze, Eyes, and the Death Drive.” Literature and Psychology 39 (Fall, 1993): 38-65. Using the principles of Jacques Lacan, Sethuraman examines the Oedipal motivations of the main characters, who seem to be attracted to death wishes. The conflict between George, the father, and Peter, the son, show that both have failed to incorporate the Other into their personalities.
Updike, John, and James Plath, ed. Conversations with John Updike. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1994. A collection of interviews given by Updike between 1959 and 1993. A revealing portrait of Updike’s background and personality; his views on life, sex, politics, and religion; and his evolution as a writer.