Beetlecreek (Masterplots II: African American Literature Series)
At a glance:
- Author: William Demby
- First Published: 1950
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Social realism
- Time of Work: The Depression era
- Setting: The fictional neighborhood of Beetlecreek, West Virginia
- Principal Characters: Bill Trapp, Johnny Johnson, David Diggs, Mary Diggs, Edith Johnson
- Genres: Long fiction, Realism, Social realism, Existential literature
- Subjects: African Americans, Race, South or Southerners, Alienation, Depression, economic, Friendship, Gangs, youth, Hermits
- Locales: Beetlecreek, WV
The Novel
Beetlecreek is divided into four sections, all told by an omniscient third-person narrator whose focus shifts from one main character to another. The short first section opens with Bill Trapp, the old white man, scaring four black teenaged boys out of his apple tree. Actually, he means to welcome them more than frighten them, for he has lived a lonely life since coming to Beetlecreek, a white man on the margin of a black neighborhood with no ties to anyone of either race. Johnny does not get out of the apple tree in time to run, and he accepts Bill’s...
[The entire page is 2564 words long]
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