Analysis of Brock Clarke's, An Arsonist’s Guide to Writer’s Homes in New England

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Recommended: When history meets literature

In the 2007 novel” An Arsonist’s Guide to Writer’s Homes in New England”, by Brock Clarke, is a story within a story about a man named Sam Pulisifer. Sam as a teenager accidentally torches an American landmark in Amherst, Emily Dickinson’s Home and kills a young couple, Linda and David Coleman, which was up stairs in a bed. After serving ten years in prison for his crime, Sam tries to put his past behind him. He gets his GED, goes to college and majors in plastics, falls in love with Ann Marie and gets married to her; they have two adorable children and buy a home in Camelot.

Camelot was a perfect place Sam thought, the perfect neighborhood where no one knew him or his past. He tries to have a normal low-profiled life where he does not have to be reminded of his past or someone else reminding him of it until the past comes crashing through his front door.

His past, which he has worked hard to keep buried, is inescapable, as is his fate of being known as the guy who burns down writers' homes. As fires are set at the Edward Bellamy house, Mark Twain house and the residences of other New England literary greats, Sam decides to play detective and learns more truths about his life and family than about how to set fires.

His past catches up to him one day in the perfect Camelot. Thomas Coleman, the son of the young couple that was killed in the Dickinson’s home many years before, finds Sam. Thomas wants a sincere apology from Sam but Sam repeatedly says “it was an accident “(Clarke 28). Thomas does not believe him and tells Sam that he will pay for the crimes. Thomas tries to break up Sam and Ann Marie’s marriage because Thomas wants what Sam has, his wife, family, home and his life. Thomas tells Ann Marie that Sam is having an...

... middle of paper ...

...or something and feels better about it even though he has to go back to prison. He feels like everything has been an accident, the lies and the lies he covered up for the lies he told to his wife and family about his past and his life in general. Sam writes a memoir and a novel about an arsonist guide in prison while he serves for 20 years.

In conclusion, the real crimes and mystery in this novel are Arson and murder. Sam, first accidentally burns down Emily Dickinson’s home and kills two people in the process. Then years later, other historical homes of writers in New England go up in smoke like Robert Frost, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mark Twain home, and even a replica of Henry David Thoreau’s cabin at Walden Pond. Sam becomes number one suspect and finding the real culprit is the only way to clear his name but sometimes there’s a terrible price to pay for the truth.

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