The Lost Boy (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Thomas Wolfe
- First Published: 1937
- Type of Plot: Autobiographical, realism, impressionistic
- Time of Work: 1904-1935
- Setting: Altamont, North Carolina, and St. Louis, Missouri
- Principal Characters: Grover Gant, Eliza Gant, Helen Gant, Eugene Gant
- Genres: Short fiction
- Subjects: Family or family life, North America or North Americans, United States or Americans, Memory, Twentieth century, Guilt, Brothers and sisters, 1910’s, 1920’s, 1930’s, North Carolina, Death or dying, Theft, Missouri, Boys, 1900’s
- Locales: St. Louis, MO, North Carolina
The Story
“The Lost Boy” offers another glimpse of the Gants, the fictionalized version of Thomas Wolfe's own family that is featured in his first novel, Look Homeward, Angel (1929). This story focuses on Grover Gant, the lost boy and older brother of Eugene Gant (Wolfe). It is told in four sections, viewed through the perceptions of Grover himself, his mother, his sister, and Eugene.
In April of 1904, the twelve-year-old newsboy Grover waits in the courthouse square of Altamont (actually Wolfe's hometown of Asheville, North Carolina), for the newspapers he...
[The entire page is 1379 words long]
