Truant (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Claude McKay
- First Published: 1932
- Type of Plot: Psychological
- Time of Work: The 1920's
- Setting: New York City
- Principal Characters: Barclay Oram, Rhoda Oram, Betsy
- Genres: Psychological fiction, Short fiction
- Subjects: African Americans, Husbands, United States or Americans, Wives, Parents and children, Caribbean, Blacks, 1920’s, Immigration or emigration, Trains, Railroads
- Locales: New York, NY
The Story
Barclay Oram is viewed by others, and views himself, as just a servant boy who is subject to moodiness. Much like an adolescent truant, Barclay is seeking to define himself in relationship to the dominant social values and to come to terms with his conflicting allegiances. When he immigrated to the United States from the West Indies in search of an education and a better life, it never occurred to him that he could have attained wisdom informally, without sacrificing the “green intimate life that clustered round his village.” He was seduced by an image of the...
[The entire page is 1377 words long]
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