Havard
“You must escape, or you will die…you must find the place…you must hunt for yourself…you must find me” (Wolfe 482). Eugene Gant…a young man filled with high hopes and much desire. Certain forces throughout Thomas Wolfe’s Look Homeward, Angel begin to push Eugene out into the world where he can truly find himself. These same forces make Eugene realize his own abilities, needs, and wants. As the novel progresses, Eugene becomes surrounded by symbols for him to seize the day and release all his pain and emotion. In his novel, Look Homeward, Angel, Thomas Wolfe tries to show how family, small-town life, and the worlds of high school and college affect the passions of a young man. Wolfe demonstrates how family life adds coal to the burning passions within Eugene. Throughout the novel, he describes how Eugene’s tumultuous, neglectful, and disturbing home and family life work on the emotions of Eugene. For example, the lack of attention placed onto Eugene starts at a very young age. Not only is Eugene part of a large family, but his father, Oliver, “slept when the great pangs of birth began in Eliza at two o’clock and slept through all the patient pain and care of do
The quietness and inactivity of Eugene’s southern hometown open his own eyes to his need for change and experience. As expected, Eugene receives less understanding from his father as the novel proceeds and when it is time for college, Oliver “spoke his final word and thus it was decided that Eugene must go to the State University, yet Eugene did not want to go to the State University” (Wolfe 321). Throughout the novel, outside circumstances bring Eugene to understand his need for new passion. Dixieland has become a still city which Eugene cannot accept and therefore, it is clear how the concept of small-town life provokes deep desire within Eugene. His new love with Laura James helps him learn that he must enter a new place and find new love. These same feelings of neglect turn into abuse as alcohol and Oliver’s temper cause him to hit his own son Eugene. Another way Wolfe shows the development of Eugene’s passion by illustrating how small-town life causes Eugene to yearn for new adventures and experiences. While many young men may be fearful of war, Eugene sees it as an inspiration and change of scenery. Wolfe is attempting to “give that silent heart, the inarticulate ghost of Eugene, a voice, and a language that will capture the images retained largely in his subconscious mind” (Roberts 81). Eugene had always hid his inner self, and Margaret was the one who tried to pull it out of him. As the novel proceeds, the reader can see how schooling itself helps Eugene formulate his ideas for his future. Eugene not only yearns for love, but also for experience outside of his hometown. Although his parents may hold him a few years more, Eugene’s mind and soul are truly free. Margaret understands how Eugene’s heart yearns for challenge and she becomes the first to truly expose Eugene’s mind to new things.
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Acceptance Essays
