Picturing Will (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Ann Beattie
- First Published: 1989
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Social realism
- Time of Work: 1989
- Setting: Charlottesville, Virginia; New York; Florida; and Connecticut
- Genres: Long fiction, Social realism, Domestic realism
- Subjects: Virginia, Child rearing or parenting, Family or family life, New York, North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., United States or Americans, Mothers, Parents and children, South or Southerners, Twentieth century, New York City, Art or artists, Marriage, Alienation, 1980’s, New England, Child abuse, Rape, Fathers, Divorce, Connecticut, Florida, Photography or photographers
- Locales: Virginia, Connecticut, New York, Florida, Charlottesville, VA
Characters Discussed
Will, the son of Jody and Wayne. At the beginning of the novel, Will is a small child living with his mother in Charlottesville, Virginia; both were abandoned by his father four years earlier. He is imaginative, loves playing with his G.I. Joe doll, and longs for a puppy. In the course of the novel, Will also becomes essentially abandoned by his mother and finds a truer parent/child bonding with his stepfather, Mel. Will, as an overriding focus of the novel, helps to define other characters as they do or do not connect emotionally with him.
Jody,...
[The entire page is 1136 words long]

