John B. Updike is a novelist, poet, short story writer, playwright, children's book author, literary critic, art critic, and essayist. Updike is one of the world's most versatile, serious, and prolific writers. Although his writing style and topics vary greatly, he is committed to addressing the moral, social, and cultural conditions of his generation. Updike was born on March 18, 1932 and grew up in a small town called Shillington, Pennsylvania, just outside of Reading. He lived there as an only child, until the age of thirteen. Growing up, he attended Harvard University, where he majored in English and contributed to and later edited the Harvard Lampoon. In 1955 he married his first wife Mary Pennington, with whom he had four children. After the dissolution of his first marriage, he married Martha Bernhard in 1977. They were happily married and lived in Beverly Farms, Massachusetts, until her death on January 27, 2009, from lung cancer. Over the course of his life he wrote more than 50 books and short stories, one of which is "Trust Me". “Trust Me” was written in 1987 and was one of John Updike's major works. In John B. Updike's short story, "Trust Me", he does not follow a fixed setting for the entire story. He switches to many different settings in the story, the first being a swimming pool. Harold, the main character, is a young boy at the swimming pool with his mother and father, where he attempts to dive into the pool while his father waits to catch him. He wants to jump into his father's arms, but his father doesn't catch him, so he falls into the water not knowing how to swim. Years later he married his first wife who was afraid of flying. They were on a plane and he promised her that if she had the first half of her time, people would think she only wrote fiction, that's where they were wrong. Updike is actually a writer of fiction and nonfiction; therefore, his stories could be related to his own life. That said, “Trust Me” is one of them. Works Cited Greiner, Donald J. "John Updike: The Literary Vermeer." Criticism 51.2 (2010):177-184. Academic research completed. Network. May 23, 2010. Pritchard, William H. “Remembering John Updike: A Critic and His Decade-long Correspondence with One of America's Best 'Freelance Writers...'” American Scholar 78.3 (2009): 115-117 . Academic research completed. Web. May 23, 2010. Johnson, Jeffrey. "Updike's Passions." Christian Century 126.6 (2009): 12-13. EBSCO website. America February 16, 2009: 5. Academic research completed May 24 2010.