WILLIAM OLIVER GANT AND EUGENE GANT: THE ABSURD HEROES IN THOSMAS WOLFE’S LOOK HOMEWARD, ANGEL

Abstract

Look Homeward, Angel is Thomas Wolfe’s first novel, it is about the Gant family, and it specifically deals with the growing up of a lonely and ambitious young man in a Southern town. It is autobiographical, basically tracing Wolfe’s own childhood and youth. This allows us to take a closer look into his own life, through the character of Eugene Gant and examine the existentialist theme of absurdity as defined by French philosopher and novelist Albert Camus. Camus states that the myth of Sisyphus is the ultimate allegory for human existence and the following study takes a closer look at that theory using Eugene Gant and his father, W. O. Gant, as examples.