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User:Parker.Laubach/The Drifters

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The Drifters
AuthorJames Michener
LanguageEnglish
GenreHistorical novel
PublisherRandom House
Publication date
1971
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (Paperback)
Pages751 pp
ISBN0394462009

The Drifters is a novel by Pulitzer Prize winning author James Michener, published in 1971 by Random House. The novel follows six young characters from diverse backgrounds and various countries as there paths meet and they travel together through parts of Spain, Portugal, Morocco and Mozambique. The story is told from the perspective of the narrator, George Fairbanks, who is a investment analyst for the fictional company World Mutual Bank in Switzerland. Mr. Fairbanks, is connected with nearly every character in some way, most through his job, and they all seem to look up to him in one way or another.


Plot Summary

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Chapter I: Joe

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In this chapter the character Joe is introduced as a disenfranchised twenty year old youth, who is enrolled in school at the University of California during the Vietnam War. After Joe realizes that wit his grades he is going to get drafted, he hitchhikes to Yale University, where he got the name of professor who may be able to get him across the border into Canada. After being refereed to a woman named Gretchen in Boston, she helps him get into Canada, and he eventually goes to Torremolinos, Spain. Where, looking for a job and a place to stay takes over a bar called the Alamo, and a man named Jean-Victor find him a place to stay in Torremolinos.

Chapter II: Britta

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As is the theme throughout the book, the second chapter is about the character Britta, who is an eighteen year old girl from TromsØ, Norway. After she is complete with school, she finds a job in an office working on the docks, but eventually because curious about what is outside of TromsØ, and goes to vacation in Torremolinos, Spain for fifteen days. Once in Torremolinos, she loves it and finds a job as a waitress in a bar called the Alamo, and a man named Jean-Victor finds her a place to stay, where another newcomer to Torremolinos, Joe, is already staying.

Chapter III: Monica

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Of the main characters in the book the character of Monica, goes through the most trials and tribulations as she transitions from living as royalty in a foreign country, to being forced out and finally to find her way to Torremolinos to join the rest of the cast in the book. She is introduced as living with her father, in the Republic of Vwarda, Monica become rebellious, and begin to cause a stir in the Royal family of the Republic of Vwarda. She is forced out of the country and runs away with a airline pilot to Torremolinos, where she can live on her monthly allowance from her Grandmother, and meets a man named Jean-Victor, who finds her a place to live with a woman from Norway and a man of America.

Chapter IV: Cato

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The fourth character of the book is named Cato, and he is introduced as the son of the Reverend Claypool Jackson, who is a local reverend in the area trying to salvage the local community through his church. Cato Jackson is a sophomore at University of Pennsylvania, who the narrator meets at a drug store where he stumbles upon a shooting of a local drug store owner. After meeting the narrator, he and Cato talk all night and the next day after Cato's girlfriend is stabbed and killed. Cato then, runs off to Torremolinos, where he finds shelter in a apartment with a few other runaways of his own age.

Chapter V: Yigal

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In the fifth chapter of the book, the character Yigal is introduced, as the son of a Dean at a college in Hafia, Israel, who is struggling to identify with either his parents and their life in Israel, or with his Grandfather, and his American life in Detroit, Michigan in the United States and other Grandfather in England . After being shuffled around between Israel and American throughout his youth, even fighting and becoming a hero in the Six Day War, before finally enrolling in Technion University in Hafia. After a few months he moves back to England with his other grandfather, and begins to engage in a lot of reading an conversations with his grandfather. Eventually, his grandfather suggests that he needs to some away, and as a place, he suggests the south of Spain, and Torremolinos as a place to go.

Chapter VI: Gretchen

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Gretchen is introduced as a very intelligent girl from Boston, who at the age of 19, has already completed her Bachelors Degree, and is working for Senator Eugene McCarthy presidential campaign. After campaigning all across the United States for the McCarthy nomination, in Chicago at the Democratic Convention, during the riots she and the people she was with were falsely arrested, and during the process she was sexually assaulted, but the policemen who did it denied it, and nothing was ever done about it. After fighting with her parents and the police over the issue or what happened, she decided to go to school in Besancon, France, where one of her Professors told her about an excellent language school. Upon enrolling at University of Besancon, and living with her peers for a little while, she decides to travel, and someone suggests Torremolinos, so she buys a yellow van, and beings to live out of it in Torremolinos.

Chapter VII: Torremolinos

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At the beginning of the chapter on Torremolinos, the whole set of characters are all in Torremolinos, and everyone is getting settled in with their various living conditions. Cato and Monica, begin a relationship and some of the characters begin to experiment with drugs such as LSD and they continue to smoke large amounts of marijuana and drink regularly. Throughout this time, they go to Paxton Fell's house, who is a man, who a few of the characters were references to see in case of an emergency, there, everyone including Mr. Fairbanks, who is in Torremolinos to supervise a real estate deal, end up parting with Mr. Fell and a few of his guests throughout the night. Eventually, the characters are approached by a woman Susan Elgerton, who tries to convince Cato and Gretchen to join her and join the cause of starting a revolution back in America. As times goes in, Torremolinos lost the luster it once had, Monica is partying way too much and Gretchen starts to look for something else to entertain her, and the characters left Torremolinos in Gretchen's yellow pop top and head towards Portugal.

Chapter VIII: Algarve

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As they drove towards Algrave, the characters began to notice that not everywhere in Europe was so nice as Torremolinos, they eventually found a small town by the name of Alte. In Alte, Yigal met a local girl, who he kissed and upset the rest of the village and Monica and Cato kept on going to the nearby town Alburfeira, to partake in LSD, where Gretchen tried it for the first time. Eventually the group moved on to the seaside town of Algrave. After living in Algrave for awhile, Monica tried to run away to Nepal, but Joe, Yigal and Cato ended up getting into a fight with the people who she was going to run away with, and she came back, and then the crew headed off to Pamplona, Spain with Mr. Fairbanks to see the running of the bulls.

Chapter IX: The Tech Rep

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In the ninth chapter, a new character is introduced who is an old friend of Mr. Fairbanks by the name of Harvey Holt. He works as a technical representative on radars in far off and places that normal people wouldn't in the their right mind go. He is an old friend of Mr. Fairbanks, and has been everywhere from Afghanistan, Sumatra to Thailand. He is a fan of old music and movies, and is very old fashion, in a break from the rest of the characters in the book, is isn't vehemently anti-war having served in World War II and very much disapproves of how Joe dodged the draft, to travel the world. Every year, Harvey Holt and Mr. Fairbanks, go to Pamplona to stay at Bar Vesca, and see the running of the bulls, where Harvey partakes in the race, and Mr. Fairbanks watches.

Chapter X: Pamplona

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Pamplona, Spain is known for it running of the bulls, which the cast come to see. They stay in the same hotel and Mr. Fairbanks and Harvey Holt and here a lot of conversations are had between Mr. Holt and Joe about way, and the commitment to ones country. Here Gretchen starts to show her feelings for Clive, a reoccurring character throughout the book who brings all of this news from the outside world, and new music from his homeland in England. For a week everybody, parties and Joe begins to think that he also wants to run with the bulls with Harvey at some point. During the week Yigal's American grandfather tracks him down and tries to bring him back to Detroit with him, although he is torn, because he has started a relationship with Britta, and he doesn't like America, although something and it still has him interested, and in the end he leaves to go to school in Ohio at Case Western Reserve. During the run, Harvey gets gored by a bull, but survives, Joe and even Mr. Fairbanks run, and the gang decides to leave Europe and head to Mocambique for the next leg of their journey.

Chapter XI: Mocambique

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In Mocambique things begin to go downhill for Monica, she has moved beyond LSD, and is beginning to use heroin regularly, and is starting to bring Cato down with her, along with Joe on occasion. Cato begins to hang around the local historians, and begins to learn about the history of Africa, and how slavery has had such an affect on the continent, just as quick as Cato is to point out of how bad the Christians have treated the Arabs, Mr. Fairbanks and Gretchen are quick to point out how bad the Arabs used slavery against their own people in the past. The group also explored some of the natural beauty of Mocambique, and started to reconnect, with that side of the world, which is something they have not explored thus far on their journey. The group then decided to head to Marrakech, Morocco, where there was a man who could help out Joe with some papers, so he could renter the United States at some point, and not be considered a criminal.

Chapter XII: Marrakech

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In the final destination of the journey, the remainder of the group ends up in Marrakech, where the marijuana trade is booming, and it is a town where young people could get lost very easily. The group finds a place to stay at hotel, where on the top floor there is a man who can help out Joe with his papers, and helps out people who become addicted to heroin, which is a good place for Monica. Monica was getting more addicted to heroin, and things were starting to look bad for her. Her father had all but given up hope for her, and the rest of the group was beginning to split up, Britta and Harvey flew off to Ratmalana, and Monica was beginning to run away more often. Eventually, Monica overdoses on heroin, and dies, Britta leaves with Harvey, Cato begins his trip to Mecca, Joe goes off to Tokyo and Gretchen returns home to Boston.


Fictional, Real Places and Real Events

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One of the most important aspects of the book, are the places that the characters travel, some of the places that the characters travel, and originate from are fictional.

Fictional Places

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  • Republic of Vwarda
  • Qarash Pass
  • Zambela Game Sanctuary
  • The Alamo in Torremolinos
  • Bar Vasca in Pamplona
  • World Mutual Bank in Switzerland

Real Places

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Real Events

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Character List

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Main Characters

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  • Joe
  • Britta
  • Monica
  • Cato
  • Yigal
  • Gretchen
  • George Fairbanks
  • Harvey Holt

Secondary Characters

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  • Reverend Claypool Jackson
  • Jemail
  • Sir Charles Braham

References

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  • Michener, James. The Drifters: A Novel. New York: Random House, 1971. Print.
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Category:1971 novels Category:Novels by James A. Michener Category:Historical novels

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