The Reivers Study Guide

The Reivers, set in the early 1900's in the South, centers on a group of individuals from Jefferson, Mississippi who are nearly family. Lucius Priest, an eleven-year-old boy, his family's retainer, Boon Hogganback, and Ned McCaslin, the family's black family member and hired help, travel to Memphis in Grandfather's stolen vehicle while Lucius' parents attend a funeral in the North. As Boon and Lucius begin their time at a bordello, however, Ned's decision to trade the vehicle for a horse, intending to race the animal, takes them all on a downward spiral into deceit, lies, and corruption. (read more)