Look Homeward, Angel

Oliver Gant was one of five children born of a Dutch mother and English father in America.  As soon as he was old enough, he left his family and set out to see the world.  Gant finally landed in Baltimore, where he worked as an apprentice to a headston

carver.  After apprenticing for five years, he moved South hoping for good opportunities and set up his own shop.  He married there, but his wife died before they had been married long.  Gant, looking for a better place to work, moved to North Carolina.

he finally settled in a young, bustling town named Altamont.  He set up his own shop and once again began working as a carver.  He felt he would be very successful in Altamont due to the growth the town was experiencing.  He met a woman named Eliza Pent

nd.  Eliza had a knack for investing in prosperous real estate and making good trades.  Over the span of a year Gant and Eliza fell in love and married.  They were happy at first, but Eliza wanted Gant to change to a more profitable profession.  Gant tr

d to work somewhere else, but he was a man of independence.  He enjoyed being his own boss, so he went back to carving headstones for a living.

Gant and Eliza had many children together, but three were stillborn.  Five sons and two daughters survived.  Eugene was the youngest, Helen was the third, and Ben was fourth, born with twin brother Grover.  Gant was having one of his drunken fits the d

 Eugene was born.  Generally when Gant had a fit he directed his ire at Eliza, and he could only be restrained by neighbors or other people.  The only person who could occasionally restrain him was his daughter, Helen.  Helen was fearless in her attempt

to calm her father.

Eliza was greatly affected by these fits.  She always received the brunt of the anger, and she became tired of it.  Eliza did not want to live her life under such circumstances so she picked up the children and left.  Eliza heard of the World's Fair in

aint Louis that year, 1904, so she took the children there.  She hoped for something better in the future than the life she had been living.  The family had a great time at the fair.  The sights and sounds amazed the children.  Eugene was especially exc

ed at the opportunity to learn more.  Things seemed to be improving for Eliza and the children until the unfortunate day that Grover fell terribly ill.  He was diagnosed with typhoid.  Gant came to Saint Louis as quickly as possible but to no avail, for

rover died not long after.  Grover's death left a deep scar in the hearts of the Gant family, but none as much as Eliza.  After this tragic experience the family returned to life in Altamont.

Eugene became more and more enthralled by learning, and he the next year wanted to go to school.  He loved reading, which he learned immediately, but despised writing.  He continued to despise writing until the day that his friend, Max, tried to change

is mind.  After the example Max showed him, Eugene began to see the value of writing as an instrument of communication. 

Although Eugene dearly loved learning, he did not share the same love for school.  The other students teased him constantly and chased him around the playground so much that he began to stay in and read instead of playing with the others during recess.

Eugene spent most of his time reading everything he could get his hands on.  He practically lived at the library.  His imagination ran wild with all of the fantasies he read and fantasies of his own.

Eugene had hardly been in school a few years when his family hit hard times.  His parents forced the children to find jobs to support the family.  Ben took a job as a paper boy, where he worked hard and did very well.  Ben was completely selfless in hi

work.  What little money he had left over he spent on gifts for others.  Eugene did not want to work at all, but was finally forced to peddle The Saturday Evening Post magazine.  He dreaded working and especially hated this job.

Eliza decided that her real estate was not bringing in the amount of money needed to support the family, so she invested in a boarding house named Dixieland.  She boarded tourists that visited Altamont and, as a result, had to move out of  the house to

un her new business.  Eugene hated Dixieland.

Regardless of all of the problems within the family, Eugene continued to go to school.  When he was almost twelve he won an essay contest at his school.  This honor was accompanied by an invitation to a local private school.  Eugene loved his new schoo

because he learned so much. He experienced literature as well as the basic subjects.  Eugene was the only child in his family that was able to attend the school because Eliza did not want to spend the money to educate the others in the same way.  This c

sed the others to be bitter. 

Eugene was finally able to quit his magazine job for a newspaper delivery job.  He kept his job a secret to keep from angering his teachers at school.  Eugene did very well at school and loved learning.  His favorite subject became Latin.  Eugene final

 graduated when he was sixteen.  Just before his graduation, Eugene's sister, Helen, married a man named Hugh Barton.  Hugh Barton was very good to Helen.  He was extremely even-tempered and kind, and he and Helen were very financially successful.

Upon his graduation, Eugene was told he would be able to attend college.  Although he was a year younger than most incoming college students, he went anyway.  He left for the University of North Carolina.  College was not what Eugene had expected.  He

d not seem to fit into the social scheme of things.  He did find some friends from his home town to spend time with.  He got into trouble with his friends there.  They found a prostitute in a  neighboring town and, like many young men , fell into tempta

on.  As a result of his experience with the woman, Eugene came down with sexual disease. 

During the summer after his first year Eugene fell in love with a girl named Laura.  He spent many an evening talking to her and going places with her.  Eugene hoped that the summer would never end, but of course it eventually did.  Eugene later found

t that Laura had been engaged that whole summer and had not told him.  He was totally devastated because he had loved her. 

The autumn of Eugene's second year of school brought much change.  America was in the heat of World War I, and much of the student body was away serving in the military.  Even though several people were missing, Eugene went about things a differently.

e became involved in social events on campus and made several new friends.  He was a big man on campus. The next summer, Eugene went to the town where Laura lived.  He was financially in poor shape when he arrived, so he took many small jobs to support

mself.  He never saw or even talked to Laura even though he looked for her constantly. 

Eugene's junior year of college was even more different than the last.  Most of his friends had left to fight in the war, and the remaining ones were planning to enlist.  Eugene did not enlist at the advice of several of his teachers, friends, and his

mily.  Things went from bad to worse when he received a letter from his mother.  The letter informed him that his brother, Ben, had come down with pneumonia and probably would not live through it.  Tragically, Eugene returned home only a couple of days

fore Ben died.  Eliza blamed herself for his death because she did not call a doctor soon enough in an attempt to save money.

Eugene graduated from college the same year the war ended.  His mother and father attended his graduation and were proud.  When Eugene returned home he began making demands of Eliza to send him to Harvard for graduate school.  He had so badly wanted to

ttend college there before, but had to settle for UNC.  Now he wanted the opportunity to try.  Eliza, possibly out of guilt for not spending the money when Ben needed it, promised to let Eugene attend Harvard for one year to try it out.  Look Homeward,

gel ends happily with the overwhelming promise of success for Eugene.

5.     The death of Ben Gant is the climax of the novel.  Although Ben had been ill for several weeks prior to his death, Eliza had refused to call a doctor in the interest of saving money.  Eugene returns home from college as quickly as possible, but cann

 save his brother.  The loss of Ben devastated the Gant family and especially Eugene, who was closest to Ben.  Not many others truly knew Ben due to his introverted nature.

6.     Family is paramount to all other aspects of life.  Look Homeward, Angel presents this theme countless times.  A family serves the greatest role in shaping the thoughts and ideas of a person.  Eugene held education and learning as more important than

ything else, but this love would not have been made a reality without the support of Eugene's parents in the form of money and encouragement.  Eugene learns to revere education and therefore succeeds in college and likely in life. 

Even if a person's family life is not perfect, he or she can work hard and overcome such adversity.  By being faced with hard situations over and over in the family, Helen learned to deal with the hard times and be happy regardless of what anyone else

ys or does.  She proved this point by marrying Hugh Barton and living happily and successfully.  Family life can definitely make or break a person's future either directly, as with Eugene, or indirectly, as in Helen's case.

Look Homeward, Angel was a very enjoyable story.  I could see a clear-cut, distinct personality in every character.  Wolfe's descriptions and situations made the story truly "come alive."  What I enjoyed about this book more than anything else was th

concentration on the family.  Even though the problems I have experienced in my family may be different, I could relate with the mishaps had in the Gant family.  This took my understanding of the story to a higher level because I could feel the pains an

joys of each individual member of the family.