The Last Picture Show (Masterplots II: American Fiction Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Larry McMurtry
- First Published: 1966
- Type of Plot: Comic realism
- Time of Work: The mid-1950’s
- Setting: Primarily the fictional West Texas town of Thalia
- Principal Characters: Sonny Crawford, Duane Moore, Sam the Lion, Herman Popper, Ruth Popper, Jacy Farrow, Lois Farrow, Genevieve, Billy
- Genres: Long fiction, Social realism, Bildungsroman
- Subjects: 1950’s, Maturation or coming of age, North America or North Americans, United States or Americans, Teenagers, Love or romance, Sex or sexuality, Rural or country life, Friendship, West, U.S., Jealousy, envy, or resentment, Adultery, Small-town life, Wealth, Sports, Theaters, Texas, High schools or high school students
- Locales: Thalia, TX
The Novel
The Last Picture Show is a frank, vivid, and at times broadly satiric portrayal of rural Texas in transition. At the time of the action, both Sonny Crawford and his friend Duane Moore are prematurely emancipated high school seniors, living together in a rooming house and supporting themselves through part-time jobs, though each boy has one living parent. Most of their free time, such as it is, is spent in one or another of the establishments owned by an elderly patriarch known as Sam the Lion— the pool hall, movie house (“picture show”), or café. On...
[The entire page is 2591 words long]
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