|
Cass Mastern appears as part of a story within the story. While a college student, Cass had an affair with the wife of his best friend, Duncan Trice. When Duncan found out, he killed himself. Hence, Cass spent the rest of his life trying to atone for his intense feelings of guilt. As a Confederate soldier in the Civil War, Cass sought death. Finally, a bullet found him. Cass\'s story was to be the subject of the Ph.D. dissertation that Jack never wrote.
Some readers view the Cass Mastern story in Chapter 4 as an unnecessary digression in the novel. Others, however, see Cass as a major figure and compare him with other characters--for instance, with Willie and the Scholarly Attorney and even with Adam Stanton and Judge Irwin. Is Jack\'s inability to understand Cass\'s sense of guilt a symptom of Jack\'s withdrawal from human involvement? Why do you think the novel ends with Jack\'s writing a book on Cass Mastern?
|
