Thomas C. Boyle and “Stones in My Passway, Hellhound on My Trail” August James Mrs. Ballard/Mr. Cooper American Literature 4 th/5 th Hour March 19, 2024 From drugs and music to becoming one of the most successful writers in America, Thomas Coraghessan Boyle is a great representation of why one should not judge a book by its cover. A good representation of Boyle’s writing and why it is deemed successful is “Stones in My Passway, Hellhound on My Trail,” a story using imagery and characterization to tell a story about a music-obsessed man living in the 1930s. Robert, the main character, plays blues in a bar filled with women and men while they all dance to his beautiful guitar skills and voice. The story cuts back to a memory of Robert watching a poisoned dog rip itself to shreds, a …show more content…
Wendy Perkins, from the database, Gale eBooks, explains her ideas and complications regarding Thomas Boyle’s “Stones in My Passway, Hellhound on My Trail”. Perkins' main and starting statement is in regard to the story's theme. Perkins, unlike the majority of readers, believes the theme of the story is not about making a deal with the devil but about personal lessons being unfollowed. Perkins states that in most of Boyle's writings, the characters are faced with positions where gaining a better understanding of the world or life itself is often ignored and missed ( “T.C. Boyle. Perkins goes on to show how Boyle's use of this strange missed opportunity is shown in the story whenever Robert experiences the foreshadowing events involving the dog and doesn't even think of it, ultimately passing in the same format as the dog (''T.C. Boyle. Pekins’ only complaint about Boyle's story and her own theory is the lack of information in the story, ultimately leaving hundreds of options for a theme open. Perkins goes on to show how