Suttree Study Guide

Suttree Plot Summary

Preview of Suttree Summary:

Cormac McCarthy's "Suttree" is a reading experience that stretches far beyond ordinary plot, structure and literary flow. With words that ebb, flow, tumble and roll—some valid and some concocted—McCarthy takes his reader through the moods, dreams, and dark inner life of his protagonist, Bud Suttree, as well as the inner life and underbelly of Knoxville, Tennessee. The despair of a small community of broken people living haphazardly without hope for the future is exaggerated by the unimaginable filth, corruption, and pollution of a river town that takes no pity on poverty, but perpetuates it with constant reminders of lack and the lure of alcohol.

Cornelius "Bud" Suttree lives in a broken-down houseboat on the river where he fishes for carp and catfish to make a meager living. As poor as his circumstances are, he lives better than some of his friends, with a little heat and...
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