Plainsong

Plainsong, by Kent Haruf, is a novel about several characters and their own struggles in this small town in Holt, Colorado. All these characters eventually end up having some kind of connection with one another. This novel can show the types of struggles anyone may experience even in this small town of Colorado.

Tom Guthrie is a teacher at the local school and father of Ike and Bobby. Tom is shown as a man very frustrated from the very beginning as he is separating from his wife and mother of his kids. His biggest issue in the novel becomes a situation with him and a failing student. His two sons, Ike and Bobby, become victims of their father's problem with that student and personally witness major issues like murder, violence and sex in their town.

Victoria Roubideaux is probably the character most focused on in the novel. She becomes pregnant by a boy who ends up leaving her without notice. Then thrown out of her house by her mom when her mother finds out why she's been so sick lately. She turns to her teacher Maggie Jones who helps her out for a while and afterward introduces her to the McPheron brothers.

Raymond and Harold McPheron are single brothers who have lived in a farm for more than half a century doing the same thing over and over. They end up accepting Maggie Jones offer to allow Victoria into their home since she has no place to stay in. Over time they develop a lot of love for Victoria almost as if she was their daughter or sister.

Maggie Jones is the only character that has some kind of connection with all the key characters of the novel from the very beginning. She is a teacher at the local school who eventually ends up having a sexual relationship with Tom Guthrie. She is also the one that helps Victoria go through all her struggles while being pregnant.

The novel begins with showing Tom and his two kids, Ike and Bobby, going through emotional times. Their mother is going through major depression