Look Homeward, Angel: The Child By Tiger

Before this summer study-travel seminar, in all honesty, I had never read any of the writings of Asheville native author, Thomas Wolfe. We were assigned an assortment of different works such as story: “The Child by Tiger” and excerpt from novel, Look Homeward, Angel “The Return of the Prodigal”. I am happy that I was introduced to this author, for I found that I thoroughly enjoy Wolf’s writing style, with his descriptive word choice, vivid imagery and characterization. Today we had the opportunity to visit the boarding house right in downtown Asheville, where the author himself spent his childhood during the start of the nineteenth century. We began the tour with an informative video depicting his life history, including his siblings’ tragic deaths, affairs with married women, rise to fame in the world of literature, and concluding with his untimely death at the age of thirty eight due to Tuberculosis. …show more content…
While technically about the life of fictional character, Eugene Gant, the novel is considered highly autobiographical in that many connections can be made between the author and his character, Gant. Both are writers, from small towns, and he even writes of the exact amount of time he is away from Asheville, seven years. Wolfe writes, “Eugene Gant had been seven years from home, and many times in those long years of absence he had debated with himself saying, ‘I will go home again. I shall tell them till the thing is crystal clear when I go home again’. Concerning the town’s bitter and ancient quarrel with him, he knew that there was much to say that could be said” (Wolfe