ThemA novel about class, race, and the horrific, glassy sparkle of urban life, them chronicles the lives of the Wendalls, a family on the steep edge of poverty in the windy, riotous Detroit slums. Loretta, beautiful and dreamy and full of regret by age sixteen, and her two children, Maureen and Jules, make up Oates' vision of the American fam-ily--broken, marginal, and romantically proud. The novel's title, pointedly uncapitalized, refers to those Americans who inhabit the outskirts of society--men and women, mothers and children--whose lives many authors in the 1960s had left unexamined. |
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afraid arms asked baby bastard began Bernard Betty blood Bloomfield Hills body boy friend Brock crazy cried dark Detroit dirty bastard dollars door dress driving electric chair everything eyes face father feel fingers Furlong girl goddam going Grandma Wendall Grosse Pointe hair hands happen hated head hear hell Howard hurry inside Jesus Joyce Carol Oates Jules felt Jules looked Jules thought Jules's kids kind kissed kitchen knew laughed leaned live look Loretta Mama Wendall married Maureen mind Mort mother move Nadine Negro never nigger night pushed remember Samson seemed sidewalk silent Sister sitting sleep smile someone stared strange street surprise talk tell things took tried trouble turned voice waiting walked watching Wayne State University What's window woman wondered