Poor White (Masterplots, Revised Second Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Sherwood Anderson
- First Published: 1920
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Psychological realism
- Time of Work: 1866-1900
- Setting: Missouri and Ohio
- Principal Characters: Hugh McVey, Sarah Shepard, Steve Hunter, Tom Butterworth, Clara Butterworth
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction
- Subjects: Factories, North America or North Americans, United States or Americans, Socialism, Nineteenth century, Marriage, Midwest, Ohio, Small-town life, Missouri, Inventions or inventors, Industrialization, Elopement
- Locales: Ohio, Missouri
The Story:
Born in 1866, Hugh McVey grew up in a small Missouri town as the motherless child of a drunken father. Spending his days lounging and dreaming on the banks of the Mississippi River, Hugh had no formal education, learned few manners, and became very lazy. The railroad came to town in 1880 when Hugh was fourteen, and he got a job as a factotum at the station, loading baggage and sweeping the platform. Hugh received little pay but got to live with his boss, Henry Shepard, and his wife Sarah. The childless couple treated Hugh as their own son, providing him with shelter,...
[The entire page is 2388 words long]
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