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Wildlife (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)

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The wide-open spaces, the mountains, and the forest fires in Wildlife serve not only as backdrops and symbols but also as catalysts for the action of the novel. The lives of four main characters—Joe Brinson, his parents, and the man with whom his mother has an affair—are shaped by their environment. The action occurs in 1961 in Great Falls, Montana, which for Joe is “a town that was not my home and never would be.” This sense of disorientation and alienation is central to the message of Ford's novel.

Wildlife is a rite-of-passage novel in which Joe,...

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