Ten North Frederick (Masterplots II: American Fiction Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: John O’Hara
- First Published: 1955
- Type of Plot: Deterministic realism
- Time of Work: 1945
- Setting: Gibbsville, Pennsylvania, and New York City
- Principal Characters: Joe Chapin, Edith Chapin, Ann Chapin, Joby Chapin, Mike Slattery, Arthur McHenry
- Genres: Long fiction, Realism
- Subjects: Family or family life, New York, North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., United States or Americans, Sex or sexuality, New York City, Alcoholism or alcoholics, Substance abuse, Upper classes, Politicians
- Locales: New York, NY, Pennsylvania, Gibbsville, PA
The Novel
Ten North Frederick begins with the death of Joe Chapin, the novel’s main character. The date is April, 1945; Joe Chapin has died and his wife, Edith, has begun to receive sympathetic calls from her husband’s close friends, business acquaintances, and political associates. From this starting point the novel begins to review Joe Chapin’s life and all the people who were a part of it, shifting back in time as far as 1881, to the marriage of Joe’s parents. O’Hara’s goal in using this technique is to construct a composite portrait of life in Gibbsville,...
[The entire page is 2570 words long]
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