Review Of John Updikes Review it Was Sad :: essays research papers

Review of arse Updikes Review "It Was Sad"I chose to review John Updikes Review It Was Sad from the October 14th issueof The New Yorker. In the review, Updike examines several works concerningthe tragedy of the Titanic. He cites these works, I feel, to support his ownopinion to the highest degree the event, and the different accounts of what really happened.Updike spends some time disproving the belief that the upper class malepassengers heroically sacrificed their own seats on the lifeboats for those lessfortunate than themselves. He even points out, who he feels, are the realheroes in this catastrophe. This shows he is writing from a moral perspective,relating to these works.He definitely takes the position of the lower class of American society as thistime in history, and even brings up the topic of racism and sexism in the recallof the event. It seems that the ships crew and the lower class passengers werethe most lionhearted in the eventful two and half hours it took for the ship tototally go under. He provides quotes from the various selections, one being thestatistics of death, by class. These statistics show that, in actuality, moreof the upper class passengers survived than the lower classes (by bothpercentage, and total people).Updike also examines, in depth, the cultural effect of the sinking of theTitanic. The thought that a ship declared unsinkable going down on its firstvoyage was at the very least, shocking to the public. Who could look atinvention and progress in the same modality? Updike seems to point out that thepublic at this time is naive and quick to make idealistic judgments.He also refers to the passengers moral standpoints, describing the decisionsthey made not only during the ships final hours but also during the whole trip.To further prove his point, he gives the testimony included in one of the books,concerning a Senator who heard the screaming of the twinge passengers but