Beetlecreek | Beetlecreek

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 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....

Beetlecreek | Beetlecreek

At a glance:

The Novel

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