1. *Google
The Centaur
John Updike
Diego Lopez

2. John Updike (1932-2009) Born in Reading Pennsylvania
Lived childhood in Shillington (fictional Ollinger), on the outskirts of Reading
Graduated summa cum laude from Harvard in 1954
Renowned novelist, poet, short story writer, art critic, and literary critic
Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, Rea Award for the Short Story-twice each
Guggenheim Fellowship
National Humanities Medal and the National Medal of Arts

3. Other Famous Works Rabbit, Run Rabbit is Rich Rabbit Redux
Rabbit at Rest
The Witches of Eastwick
Ollinger Stories

4. *Google

5. Modernism
The change in “subjects, forms, concepts, and styles of literature and the other arts […] after World War I” (Abrams 167).
Period in which authors decided to break off of traditional views and interpretations of the world and the environment (Lopez 1).
The break that Updike took in the Centaur is to base his work on Greek mythology and a theme of sacrifice

6. Chiron and Prometheus
Prometheus was in charge of creating Man. Due to their lack of qualities, Prometheus gave Man the look and posture of the gods, and also fire stolen from the realm of Zeus. As punishment, Zeus sent Prometheus to be tied up on a cliff and to have his intestines eaten away by a large eagle for eternity.
Chiron, eldest and wisest of the centaurs, was accidentally shot in the knee by Hercules with an arrow that was poisoned with Hydra blood (caused wounds that would not heal). To end his agony, Chiron decided to give up his immortality to Prometheus
Hercules then broke Prometheus free from his chains and gave him his gift of life from Chiron

7. The Centaur plot
The Centaur is the recreation of the myth of Chiron and Prometheus set in Ollinger High School in rural Pennsylvania in Chiron is represented by George Caldwell. Prometheus is represented by Peter Caldwell. The incidents and accidents of three winter days illustrate how much George sacrificed paternally and selflessly for his son.

8. Critical Argument
Many critics believe that Updike’s allusion of George Caldwell in The Centaur as the representation of Chiron does not adequately express Chiron and his mythological magnificence, or “treat the story objectively or […] push the myth further” (Lewis 340). However, upon further analysis of the novel, Caldwell is a fitting modern recreation of the struggle and prominence of Chiron the centaur, and the myth is seen in a greater way. In a back and forth system from story to Greek mythology, with a condescending, mocking but serious tone, Updike uses irony, allusion and meaningful quotes to create this similarity of Chiron and George Caldwell.

9. Allusion
“The pain extended a feeler into his head and unfolded its wet wings along the walls of his thorax, so that he felt, in his sudden scarlet blindness, to be himself a large bird waking from sleep” (Updike 3).
Not only does Updike begin with ‘the pain’ which refers to the pain that George Caldwell felt when shot with an arrow in the ankle by his students, but Updike also alludes to the eagle that punishes Prometheus every single day.

10. Necessity of Myth
“Not only is the mythic parallel artful, but it is also necessary to take us beyond the confines of the immediate, to objectify the implicit religious intuition felt by the characters throughout the novel” (Vargo 452).
Updike’s use of the myth takes the myth into a deeper level, not only showing the ‘religious intuition’ of the characters, but also showing their true essence of soul and mind and how Caldwell represents Chiron in both of these aspects

11. Irony
“I felt him clinging to my father, sucking the strength from him” (Updike 97).
Irony is found here because Peter is saying this statement thinking that it is one of his father’s students that is sucking away his life, when in reality it is Peter himself that is doing so. This ironic statement can also compare to how Prometheus never knew it would be him that would basically be taking the life from Chiron

12. Caldwell/Chiron
“George, in his parental concern for Peter, is capable of the sacrifices that Chiron made for Prometheus” (Pugh 399).
Pugh also agrees that Caldwell is a fitting recreation of Chiron in that Caldwell has the same qualities and has the same protection for Peter as Chiron had for Prometheus

13. Caldwell/Chiron
“My father provided; he gathered things to himself and let them fall upon the world; my clothes, my food, my luxurious hopes had fallen to me from him, and for the first time his death seemed, even at its immense stellar remove of impossibility, a grave and dreadful threat" (Updike 90).
The complexity of this quote can be broken apart and analyzed in different aspects. First of all, the first half refers to how Caldwell gave so much to Peter, just like how Chiron gave so much to Prometheus, like a small example would be his life. The second half of the quote alludes to how death for Caldwell should be literally impossible, since Chiron was immortal, but death became a reality once he was struck with the poisoned arrow.

14. Important quote
He opened his mouth; his very blood loathed the story he had told. "One minute ago, flint-chipping, fire-kindling, death-foreseeing, a tragic animal appeared—" The buzzer rasped; halls rumbled throughout the vast building; faintness swooped at Caldwell but he held himself upright, having vowed to finish. “—called Man” (Updike 45).
One can see that Updike, in his novel, starts with a terrible view on mankind. However, Prometheus gained his punishment because he stole fire from Zeus and gave it to Man because he thought of them as a humble race that needed more. Also, Chiron saved Prometheus, implying that Chiron also supported Prometheus’ actions.

15. Works cited
"The+centaur - Google Search." Google. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr
"The+centaur - Google Search." Google. Pinterest, n.d. Web. 20 Apr
Pugh, Griffith T. "National Book Awards." The English Journal 53.5 (1964): Web.
Updike, John. The Centaur. New York: Knopf, Print.
Vargo, Edward P. "The Necessity of Myth in Updike's The Centaur." PMLA 88.3 (1973): Web.