Tragedy in T.Wolfe's "Look Homeward Angel"

The tragedy of the protagonist of the most autobiographical novel ever written by Thomas Wolfe “Look Homeward, Angel”, as well as that of the author himself, is to be searched for in their own hearts and psychological perception of the surrounding world: “Both came too late into a world too mechanic, they lacked a wilderness and constantly tried to create one as wild as their hearts.” (1,260) Misunderstanding on the part of society and own family as well, was making the whole thing twice as less bearable. In fact, the author’s own life, portrayed in the novel, cannot be called happy one in spite of romantic and inexplicable to the new modernistic epoch, longings. On the contrary, Thomas Wolfe – Eugene Gant’s life had always been on the verge of despair. The life (they both realized it too good) was not protected by any angels (even marble ones) anymore – they were sold. The angel, the symbol of the old Gant’s buried aspirations, as the useless old customs and winged ambitions – “the one symbol of the divine in the workshop sold to adorn the grave of a prostitute…” (1,264) Is not it too tragic – not only to get deprived of one’s dreams, but also do realize it with the pain and remorse that you have done nothing in order to get out of that monotonous and vicious circle? The father was doomed, so his son will be doomed, and his children are also going to be doomed… So cannot it be called life’s tragedy when “the integrity of the individual consciousness has been broken down”…