Staggerford

Staggerford Relatable. This is a word that I would personally use to describe “Staggerford”, by Jon Hassler. Hassler did a splendid job writing this novel, focusing on how the life of a middle aged high school English teach in Minnesota may be. Although this book is fiction, the perfect picture was painted in my head of Miles, the middle aged bachelor’s realistic life. Throughout this novel, I started to see many different hints of what may be to come further in the reading, disguised properly, although. There are many important characters that play special roles throughout this novel, and Miles Pruitt is the main focus of it all. Love, heartbreak and demise are the recurring themes scattered throughout this brilliant novel. Love is a large theme I noticed in this reading. Between Miles timeworn loves, love he hasn’t let go of, and confusing love for his student Beverly, it seems as though Miles never caught a break. Being a middle aged bachelor has shown to drag him down, never seeming to be excited for much of anything anymore. I get a sense that Miles is a confused soul, who looks out for the needs of others before himself. Taking a different turn on love, I feel as though Miss McGee filled this description very well. As she had once stated that Miles seemed like a husband/son figure to her. I believe those two played very important roles in each other’s lives, and they were both equally lucky to have one another. Heartbreak also plays a big part in this novel, not only in Miles life, but in others as well. Between his heartbreaks of adolescence, Beverly’s love for Miles, and others feelings in the climax of this reading, I feel as though heartbreak is definitely a proper theme seem in this. However, I felt each character handled heartbreak with strength. We definitely see this in the end of the novel when Miss McGee and Beverly stay strong and decide to continue on with their lives. One instant where this remains false however was the reaction I saw Carla