Falconer (Masterplots II: American Fiction Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: John Cheever
- First Published: 1977
- Type of Plot: Prison survival, escape, and psychological redemption
- Time of Work: The early 1970’s
- Setting: Falconer Prison, near New York City, and Southwick, Connecticut
- Principal Characters: Ezekiel Farragut, Eben Farragut, Marcia Farragut, Chicken Number Two, Jody, Tiny
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction, Social realism
- Subjects: 1970’s, New York, North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., United States or Americans, Prisoners, Prisons, Gay men, Homosexuality or homosexuals, Escapes, New York City, Substance abuse, Fratricide, parricide, or filicide, Drug addiction or addicts, Riots
- Locales: New York, NY, Connecticut
The Novel
Falconer is a one-hundred-year-old state prison where Ezekiel Farragut, a professor guilty of fratricide while under the influence of “dangerous drugs,” is being incarcerated for “zip to ten” years. He is addicted to heroin but is currently maintained on methadone.
Ezekiel’s first visitor is his wife, Marcia, but their marriage is very bitter, with Ezekiel mostly acquiescent in the verbal battles. Peter, his son, does not come to see him at any time during the novel. Some of Marcia and Ezekiel’s hostility emerged most notably when he once found her...
[The entire page is 3144 words long]
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