But Clarence Wilmot is no Harry Angstrom, and In the Beauty of the Lilies is not Rabbit set in period dress. That is to say, Updike has become a historian, and a good one at that. Another article reports that the Japanese army is poised to invade Korea, a reminder of the consequences of insufficient martial prowess. A dinner party at Clarence's home later in the day leads to an explicit discussion of Social Darwinism. Clarence suggests that Christ preached something different.
Clarence wants no part of it.
Updike suggests that the fault lies not in Clarence, but in society itself, for the same newspaper that swaggerered over the impending defeat of Jack Johnson included a notice that the Rough Rider's son had taken a desk job with the Hartford Carpet Company. Even Teddy Roosevelt, the era's symbol of upright manhood, had failed to impart satisfactory manliness to his sons. Clarence himself proves hopelessly deficient once thrust into the competitive world of business. He tries his hand selling encyclopedias, and fails. He contracts tuberculosis, languishes in bed, and quietly slips out of life, much like the prototypical heroine of Victorian fiction.