Tomorrow and Tomorrow and So Forth by John Updike
"Tomorrow and Tomorrow and So Forth" by John Updike is a narrative that explores themes of teaching, adolescence, and the complexities of human relationships through the lens of Mark Prosser, an English teacher. The story is set in a high school classroom where Prosser attempts to engage his eleventh-grade students with Shakespeare's "Macbeth." However, as he navigates his own insecurities and the distractions of his students, particularly his fascination with a girl named Gloria, he struggles to maintain authority and effectively impart knowledge.
Prosser's interactions with his students reveal a blend of self-consciousness and yearning for validation, highlighting the often tumultuous dynamics between teachers and adolescents. The narrative delves into the challenges of communication and understanding as Prosser becomes increasingly preoccupied with his students' perceptions of him rather than focusing on the text itself. The story captures the essence of a classroom environment where personal emotions and social dynamics play a critical role in the learning process, illustrating the broader human experience of seeking connection and meaning amid the chaos of everyday life.
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Tomorrow and Tomorrow and So Forth by John Updike
First published: 1955
Type of plot: Social realism
Time of work: The 1950's
Locale: An American high school
Principal Characters:
Mark Prosser , the protagonist and the story's central consciousness, an eleventh-grade English teacherGloria Angstrom , an attractive studentPeter Forrester , an antagonistic studentGeoffrey Langer , a bright studentStrunk , a physical education teacher
The Story
The lesson for the day in Mark Prosser's English classroom is Macbeth's soliloquy on hearing of Lady Macbeth's death:
Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow
Macbeth's criticism of life, based on his experience, reflects on the lack of experience or learning taking place in the classroom.
As his students enter the eleventh-grade English classroom, Prosser flatters himself on his ability to interpret their responses to their environment, attributing their restlessness to a change in the weather. The adolescents act out their relationships with one another as they roughhouse their way to their respective seats. Prosser is particularly aware of Gloria Angstrom, whose practically sleeveless pink sweater sets off the whiteness of her arms. His libidinous feelings toward Gloria make him a rival for her attentions with red-headed Peter Forrester, who has not prepared his homework assignment, but has succeeded in making her gasp as they enter the classroom. Prosser expresses his envy in contemplating the shortcomings of redheads in general and Peter in particular by calling on Peter first to be accountable for the homework assignment. Peter is unprepared. Prosser is unable to refrain from mocking his student's superficial, inappropriate answers.
As a teacher, Prosser is very self-conscious; indeed, his self-consciousness matches that of his adolescent students. Rather than concentrating on the subject matter, he reacts to their behavior, or what he assumes to be their reactions to him. His interpretation of William Shakespeare's lines is little better than that of the students, because it depends more on the interaction between teacher and students than on the play. When Peter eventually asks for a better explication, Prosser claims that he does not really know the meaning himself. When the students express their discomfort with this response, he tells them that he does not want to force his interpretation on them; in effect, he abandons the role of teacher to become a "human-among-humans." He is more concerned with what they think of him than with teaching them to understand Shakespeare. When he does start to provide some information about Shakespeare, he allows their disinterest to determine his actions. He is continually evaluating his relationship with them, congratulating himself on what he supposes to be his acuteness of perception.
When the students each attempt to recite the passage from memory at the front of the room, Prosser remains preoccupied with the interaction among them, especially as they relate to Gloria. As he admonishes Geoffrey, the smart boy with whom Prosser identifies himself, Prosser intercepts a note from Gloria to Peter in which she asserts that Prosser is a great teacher and that she loves him. As the period ends, he tells her to stay.
When the others leave, he patronizingly admonishes her for note-passing and suggests that she does not know the meaning of love. He thinks, however, that her emotional sincerity is about to express itself in tears.
After she has left, Strunk, the physical education teacher, comes in to tell how Gloria had played a joke that morning on another of her teachers by letting him intercept a note that said she loved that teacher. Moreover, the same thing had been done to yet another teacher the day before. Prosser feels angry. He does not tell Strunk that he, too, has been a victim of this joke. He leaves the school assuring himself that Gloria had been emotional, about to cry because she really did care about him, regardless of the notes intercepted by the other teachers.
Bibliography
Bloom, Harold, ed. John Updike: Modern Critical Views. New York: Chelsea House, 1987.
Boswell, Marshall. John Updike's Rabbit Tetralogy: Mastered Irony in Motion. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2000.
Greiner, Donald. John Updike's Novels. Athens: Ohio University Press, 1984.
Luscher, Robert M. John Updike: A Study of the Short Fiction. New York: Twayne, 1993.
Miller, D. Quentin. John Updike and the Cold War: Drawing the Iron Curtain. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2001.
Newman, Judie. John Updike. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1988.
Schiff, James A. John Updike Revisited. New York: Twayne, 1998.
Updike, John. Self-Consciousness: Memoirs. New York: Knopf, 1989.
Uphaus, Suzanne Henning. John Updike. New York: Frederick Ungar, 1980.