I Want to Know Why (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Sherwood Anderson
- First Published: 1921
- Type of Plot: Psychological
- Time of Work: Probably the early twentieth century
- Setting: Beckersville, Kentucky, and Saratoga, New York
- Principal Characters: The unnamed narrator, His father, Jerry Tillford, Bildad Johnson, Sunstreak
- Genres: Psychological fiction, Short fiction
- Subjects: Maturation or coming of age, Adolescence, Sex or sexuality, Boys, Houses, mansions, or manors
- Locales: Kentucky, Saratoga, NY
The Story
The protagonist of “I Want to Know Why” is an unnamed boy nearing his sixteenth birthday. The events that he relates have occurred almost a year previously, just as he turned fifteen. The boy recalls these events in a mixture of confusion and desperation: He needs to understand exactly what happened and how it has affected him so that he can get on with his life.
The boy lives in Beckersville, a small Kentucky town, and he is fascinated with horses and horse racing. His father is the town lawyer, but the boy wants more than anything else to be a part of the...
[The entire page is 1769 words long]
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