The Morning Watch (Masterplots II: American Fiction Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: James Agee
- First Published: 1951
- Type of Plot: Bildungsroman
- Time of Work: Good Friday, 1924
- Setting: An Episcopalian boys’ school in middle Tennessee
- Principal Characters: Richard, Richard’s Mother, Hobe Gillum, Jimmy Toole, George Fitzgerald, Lee Allen, Willard Rivenburg, Claude Gray, Father Fish
- Genres: Long fiction, Bildungsroman
- Subjects: Snakes, 1920’s, Tennessee, Christianity, Boys, Church schools, Secondary education, Swimming or swimmers
- Locales: Tennessee
The Novel
As far as outer action is concerned, not much happens in The Morning Watch. The story itself is so short that it is best described as a novella. All of the story’s action occurs within two or three hours during the early morning of Good Friday. Only the most devout could call the action earthshaking: Three boys sleeping in a dormitory are awakened at 3:45 a.m. to take their turns in a religious vigil; they join other worshipers in the silent, prayerful watch at the school chapel; then they wander off together for a cold swim in a nearby quarry, the Sand Cut....
[The entire page is 2426 words long]
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