The Fourth of July has shifted from traditional celebrations to a reminder of America’s complex history. In John Updike’s "Rabbit at Rest," the character Rabbit Angstrom experiences a moment of joy despite personal struggles, recognizing the happiness found in America. However, this joyous perception is contrasted by Frederick Douglass’s powerful speech, which highlights the unequal distribution of liberty and the historical injustices faced by many. Ultimately, the holiday embodies both celebration and a critique of American ideals.
"White-haired women sit in their aluminum lawn chairs down by the curb dressed like fat babies in checks and frills, their shapeless veined legs cheerfully protruding. Middle-aged men have squeezed their keglike thighs into bicycle shorts meant for boys. Young mothers have come from their back-yard aboveground swimming pools in bikinis and high-sided twists of spandex that leave half their buttocks and breasts exposed."
"Harry's eyes burn and the impression giddily—as if he has been lifted up to survey all human history—grows upon him, making his heart thump worse and worse, that all in all this is the happiest fucking country the world has ever seen."
"Of course, the Jeffersonian dream of liberty has never been shared equally and indeed has been actively stolen from many. As against Updike's triumphalist good cheer, we also have the bracing rebuke of Frederick Douglass's classic 1852 oration, 'What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?'"
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