Stoner

“An occasional student who comes upon the name may wonder idly who William Stoner was, but he seldom pursues his curiosity beyond a casual question. Stoner’s colleagues, who held him in no particular esteem when he was alive, speak of him rarely now; to the older ones, his name is a reminder of the end that awaits them all, and to the younger ones it is merely a sound which evokes no sense of the past and no identity with which they can associate themselves or their careers.”

This first characterization of William Stoner is crucial in developing his typical persona. After his death, colleagues and students don’t remember him; he becomes a narrative of the past. But for the sake of John Williams’s novel, this is not tragic and doesn’t signify that Stoner has lost out on a meaningful life. Instead, Williams emphasizes that there is value in being average. Although others have forgotten Stoner, the fact that he is the subject of this novel signifies that he is in fact important.

“It was a lonely household, of which he was an only child, and it was bound together by the necessity of its toil.”

Stoner’s childhood is marked by a loneliness that he will carry with him into his adulthood. Because of his work, Stoner has not tried to pursue happiness above responsibility. For him, needs must take priority, and in Stoner’s childhood, the needs of the family’s survival surpass other human needs. Even though Stoner eventually leaves the farming life, this loneliness and dedication to toil remains a constant within his characterization.

“He had never before seen anything so imposing. The red brick buildings stretched upward from a broad field of green that was broken by stone walks and small patches of garden. Beneath his awe, he had a sudden sense of security and serenity he had never felt before.”

This first glimpse of the University of Missouri foreshadows the transformation Stoner will undergo in these buildings. The separation of Stoner from his family farm, the only