Part 1, Chapter 2 Summary

Oliver and Eliza are married, and he builds a large house for her with his own hands. Eliza engineers a partnership with her brother, Will Pentland, which lasts only a year, so Gant goes back to stonecutting and drinking. In the next eleven years, they have nine children. The first, a girl, dies at twenty months of cholera; two more die at birth. Steve, the oldest to survive, is born in 1885. Then there are Daisy, Helen, Grover and Ben (twins). Luke, the last of the nine, is born in 1894. Eliza sends Gant to Richmond for a cure for his alcoholism when the alcoholic bouts stretch into weeks.

Part 1, Chapter 2 Analysis

Much more is known about alcoholism now than when Wolfe was growing up or even when he wrote this book. It's apparent very early in this marriage that Gant is an...