The Bulwark (Masterplots, Revised Second Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Theodore Dreiser
- First Published: 1946
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Social realism
- Time of Work: 1890 to the mid-1920’s
- Setting: Dukla and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; New York City; and Atlantic City
- Principal Characters: Solon Barnes, Benecia (née Wallin), Cynthia Barnes, Rufus Barnes, Hannah Barnes, Phoebe Kimber, Rhoda Kimber, Justus Wallin, Isobel, Orville, Dorothea, Etta, Volida La Porte, Hester Wallin, Willard Kane, Stewart, Victor Bruge, Psyche Tanzer
- Genres: Long fiction, Social realism
- Subjects: Family or family life, New York, North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., United States or Americans, Parents and children, Suicide, Nineteenth century, New York City, 1910’s, 1920’s, Pennsylvania, Rape, Philadelphia, Faith, Ethics, Business or business people, Idealism, Banks, bankers, or banking, Society of Friends or Quakers
- Locales: New York, NY, Philadelphia, PA, Atlantic City, NJ, Madison, WI
The Story:
Rufus Barnes was a farmer and tradesman living near Segookit, Maine. He and his wife, Hannah, were good Quakers. When Hannah’s sister, Phoebe Kimber, living in Trenton, New Jersey, lost her husband, she asked Rufus to come to New Jersey to help settle her husband’s affairs. Rufus, finding himself the executor of a rather large estate, did a thorough and competent job. In gratitude for his help and in hopes that he would move his family close to her, Phoebe offered Rufus one of her properties, an old, rundown, but elegant house in Dukla, Pennsylvania, just across...
[The entire page is 2687 words long]
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