Kennedy, William. Ironweed. London: Simon & Schuster,
2009.
William Kennedy is a former newspaperman, who now teaches at the State University, in Albany. He has lived there all his life. He knows the streets the residents and the legends. He has placed his
four novels there. Ironweed won the 1984 Pulitzer Prize amongst others.
Francis Phelan works
for a few dollars a day, digging graves with his friend Rudy. A long time ago
he dropped his son when only 13 days old. He ran away and was involved in one
or two other deaths. However he is a protector of others, despite any violence that
has happened and he has a strong sense of integrity. He is a survivor, like
“ironweed”, not like his companion for 9 years, Helen Archer, “the Helen
blossom” a windblown weed blossom of no
value, without any seed, that “withers, and
perishes, and falls, and vanishes”. At the end of the story he sees some things in a different light, after having run so long to escape his guilt.
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