Should Wizard Hit Mommy? Themes

One of the hallmarks of John Updike’s writing is his strong masculine protagonists and commitment to the male perspective. Throughout his career, Updike chose to write through the eyes of working class American men as a way of illuminating how they saw the world. However, because he prioritizes masculinity and maleness as a desired trait, many of Updike’s male protagonists are also latent—or sometimes overt—misogynists, who take their frustrations out on the women in their…

“Should Wizard Hit Mommy?” deals with the question of what it means to fit in, and the price one pays for fulfilling one’s duties and conforming to others’ expectations. While Jo (and Roger Skunk) want desperately to fit in, Jack hates conforming to the expectations of domestic life, and wants desperately to escape them. However, while Jo believes Roger will be able to simply change his life with a wave of a wizard’s wand…

In “Should Wizard Hit Mommy?” the process of crafting a story is as important as the story itself. Indeed, Jack uses the Roger Skunk story to exercise control and decisiveness that he feels like he no longer possesses in his own life, and also to delay helping his pregnant wife, Clare, repaint the living room (and, in the process, delay confronting the fact that his family is about to get bigger). Far from merely…