Short story The orphaned Swimming Pool

John Updike

John Updike contributed fiction, poetry, essays, and criticism to The New Yorker for a half century. He is the author of twenty-two novels, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Rabbit Is Rich” and “Rabbit at Rest,” fifteen books of short stories, seven collections of poetry, five children’s books, a memoir, and a play. His sixth collection of nonfiction, “Due Considerations,” contains more than seventy book reviews and essays that first appeared in the magazine. His last novel was “The Widows of Eastwick.” Updike died on January 27, 2009.

"Marriages, like chemical unions, release upon dissolution packets of the energy locked up in their bonding." Story about the break-up of a marriage. Setting is suburban Connecticut. The couple's social life during the summer revolved around their swimming pool. There, under the scrutiny of neighbors's eyes, they seemed to live happily. Morning swims, afternoons spent among neighbors beside the pool, evening cocktails and midnight swims. After the break-up the pool was deserted. She went to her mother's; he stayed in the city. The neighbors slowly began using the pool although the house beside it was now empty. It became a community pool of sorts. He returned one weekend with his girlfriend. They were imprisoned within the house by the community's presence at the pool. They slipped out during the dinner lull. The wife returned to stay but while gazing at the deserted pool's plastic liner saw that the pool in truth had no bottom, it held bottomless loss, it was one huge blue tear. Thank God no one had drowned in it, except her. The house was sold to a family with toddling infants. They sealed the pool and put warning signs around as aroung a chained dog.

1)        What can the title mean?

2)        Explain the comparison between “marriages” and “chemical unions”

3)        How important is the swimming pool for the understanding of the story? How can a      suburban swimming pool be “orphaned”?

4)        What were the first signs that there was something wrong in The Turners’ marriage?

5)        How did the pool look like right after Linda moved out to Ohio with the children?

6)        After the Turners’ divorce the neighbours start using the pool. “The Murtaugh children (…) began to use it, without supervision. So Linda’s old friends, (….) began to show up (…). It became, then, a kind of duty, a test of loyalty, to use the pool.” (lines 72 to 80). How nice and friendly are The Turnes’ neighbours?

7)        There is a detailed list of everyone who went for a swim at the Turners’ house. Why do you think Updike is so meticulous at this point of the narrative?

8)        Ted had an affair. When did it start? How long did it last? Was this affair the reason for their divorce?

9)        What type of point of view do we have in Updike’s short story?

10)      In August, Linda returns to the house. She looks at the deserted pool and realizes that it “in truth had no bottom, it held bottomless loss, it was on huge blue tear”. What do we learn with Linda’s remark?