Beetlecreek | Beetlecreek

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

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...

Beetlecreek | Beetlecreek

At a glance:

The Novel

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