The Outsider (Masterplots II: American Fiction Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Richard Wright
- First Published: 1953
- Type of Plot: Psychological realism
- Time of Work: 1950
- Setting: Chicago, New York City, and Newark, New Jersey
- Principal Characters: Cross Damon, Gladys Damon, Dorothy Powers, Ely Houston, Gilbert (Gil) Blount, Eva Blount, Jack Hilton, Bob Hunter, Langley Herndon
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction
- Subjects: Freedom, Communism or communists, Suicide, Murder or homicide, Escapes, 1940’s, Argentina or Argentineans, Existentialism
- Locales: New York, NY, Chicago, IL, Newark, NJ
The Novel
The Outsider is divided into five books, each of which focuses on a phase in the psychological development of its protagonist. “Dread,” the first section, introduces Cross Damon, a well-read black postal worker, who is caught in a web of circumstances that exacerbates his sense of existential nausea: Dot, his fifteen-year-old lover, is pregnant and threatening to charge him with statutory rape; Gladys, his estranged wife, is squeezing him for money; his pious mother burdens him with guilt; and his tedious job stifles him. A fortuitous public transit...
[The entire page is 2613 words long]
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