Beetlecreek (Masterplots II: American Fiction Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: William Demby
- First Published: 1950
- Type of Plot: Existential realism
- Time of Work: The American Depression era
- Setting: 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
The plot of Beetlecreek develops chronologically, in four parts focusing on three different sets of human circumstances, actions, and events that converge at the end. Part 1 introduces four of the five main characters. In chapter 1, Bill Trapp, a white hermit feared by a large number of the black people who live nearby, chases four young black boys from under a fruit tree in his yard and discovers that there is one young black boy up in the tree. Bill, whose reputation is unjustified, invites young Johnny Johnson to come down out of the tree and into his house....
[The entire page is 2626 words long]
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