Like many of Capote's young male protagonists, Joel Harrison Knox is essentially an orphan. Alienated from his schoolmates because of his delicate—almost effeminate—appearance, he decides he resembles Little Kay in "The Snow Queen," and because his life seems to lack emotional warmth, he wonders if he too has been spirited off to a frozen palace. He feels comfortable only when he is sharing his lunch with a Negro stevedore or when Mr. Mystery selects him as a volunteer during the magic show. Further isolated by the death of his mother, Joel has been taken in by his aunt, Ellen Kendall, but he is an outsider in this household too. Even though the family treats him well, he resents them and often is cruel, especially to his deaf cousin, Louise. When his father, Ed Samson, invites Joel.....
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