Color of Darkness (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: James Purdy
- First Published: 1957
- Type of Work: Short fiction
- Type of Plot: Surrealism
- Time of Work: 1950’s
- Setting: Various
- Genres: Psychological fiction, Short fiction, Surrealist literature
- Subjects: Suffering, United States or Americans, Parents and children, Dogs, Murder or homicide, Twentieth century, Communication, Emotions, Fathers, Good and evil, Ethics, Human behavior, Success or failure, Disabilities or physically challenged persons, Loneliness, Birds, Smoke
- Locales: United States
Characters Discussed
Fenton Ridgeway, a nineteen-year-old orphan in “63: Dream Palace.” He has come to the big city from West Virginia after his mother’s death, bringing along his sickly thirteen-year-old brother, Claire. Fenton is torn between caring for his brother—which keeps him trapped in an abandoned, rotting house, where Claire reminds him of family duty, God, and his mother—and involving himself with the dissolute, effete Parkhurst Cratty and the rich, alcoholic widow, Grainger, who are fascinated by his rough manners and good looks. He can be dull, oafish,...
[The entire page is 1021 words long]
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