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 Roger’s mother refuses to allow Roger to change his skunk scent—even though smelling like roses makes him more popular—offering the explanation that he no longer smells like he is supposed to. Her ultimate victory over the wizard, who eventually restores Roger’s original skunk smell, suggests a victory of familial obligation over the freedom to follow one’s own desires without regard for others.

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-Magician in Jack's story
- usually presents the solution to whatever problem roger is facing. -performing a magic spell that reverses Roger’s predicament, making Roger very happy.
-Jo believes that the wizard’s actions were justified, and therefore he has every right to hit Roger’s mother and refuse to reverse his spell.
-Jack, on the other hand, sides with Roger’s mother and believes that the wizard should reverse the spell to make Roger’s mother happy.

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-animal incorporated into Jack's story.
-Jo--> wants nothing more than to fit in among her peers, and is therefore is petrified when Jack says that Roger’s mother makes Roger return to his former smell.
-Jack--> Roger’s willingness to return to his original smell represents his sense of duty toward his family and mirrors Jack’s responsibilities to his own family.

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John Hoyer Updike (March 18, 1932 – January 27, 2009) was an American novelist, poet, short-story writer, art critic, and literary critic. One of only three writers to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once. Updike published more than twenty novels, more than a dozen short-story collections, as well as poetry, art and literary criticism and children's books during his career.

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Jack and Clare’s four-year-old daughter, Jo is a growing girl.

has begun to contradict things her parents tell her, and (to Jack’s great frustration) no longer falls asleep at nap time.

All of these traits worry and upset Jack because he realizes he will soon have another woman in his life contradicting him the way his wife Clare does.

Jo is intent on exercising her opinions and having her ideas heard, even at a young age. With respect to the story of Roger Skunk, Jo does not agree with the ending that her father proposes.

Jo wants to be accepted by her friends and doesn't understand familial duty.

In addition, Jo’s suggestion that the wizard should hit Roger’s mother for her transgression suggests that Jo has picked up on the unhappy (and potentially violent) nature of her parents’ marriage.

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Clare is six-months pregnant and is repainting and re-arranging the living room, a task that Jack should be helping with but which he is delaying as long as possible.

Jack and Clare’s marriage is not a happy one, and although he does not express his feelings to her directly, Jack has grown increasingly resentful toward his wife, whom he feels continually contradicts and undermines him.

Even when Clare is not physically present, Jack feels her derision and disdain reflected in their young daughter, Jo, who is growing to look increasingly like Clare and does things that remind Jack of Clare’s behaviour.

Ultimately, Jack is not only unwilling to help Clare move their furniture despite her pregnancy, but he is so angry at her that he refuses to even look at her or speak to her.

He sees her as the symbol of his own unhappiness and unfulfilled desire.

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The protagonist of the story

Jack is a married man living with his pregnant wife Clare, their four-year-old daughter Jo, and their two-year-old son, Bobby.

Jack uses the stale ritual of telling his daughter a bedtime story to avoid helping his wife re-paint their living room to prepare for the arrival of their third child.

Each story concerns an animal named Roger who has a problem that is solved by the story’s end.

Much like Jack’s life, the stories follow a strict and unchallenging pattern and contain hallmarks of domesticity.

Jack crafts Roger Skunk in his own image: a skunk who is isolated from other animals much like Jack was as a young boy. Roger is lonely because of his smell, which he is ultimately unable to change out of a sense of duty to his mother.

Though Jo is unaware, Jack is channelling his frustration in his marriage into the story, and becomes increasingly upset when Jo contradicts him, as it reminds him of Clare.

It reflects his own hatred towards Clare and their life together: a life in which Jack feels increasingly trapped and has come to resent Clare not as his partner in the struggle, but as his principle tormenter.