Solstice (Masterplots II: American Fiction Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Joyce Carol Oates
- First Published: 1985
- Type of Plot: Psychological realism
- Time of Work: The 1980’s
- Setting: Rural Pennsylvania
- Principal Characters: Monica Jensen, Sheila Trask
- Genres: Long fiction
- Subjects: Teaching or teachers
- Locales: Bucks County, PA
The Novel
Solstice is divided into four parts, with Emily Dickinson’s poem “After great pain a formal feeling comes” serving as an epigraph to the novel. It is the story of two women seeking balance in their lives.
The novel is written in a third-person limited voice. The reader is allowed to know Monica Jensen’s thoughts and feelings but can only guess at Sheila Trask’s, as Monica does. The story begins with Monica’s move to Glenkill, Pennsylvania, to teach at an all-boys private school, Glenkill Academy. She rents an old farmhouse that is next to...
[The entire page is 2471 words long]
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