Stoner

Content Warning: This guide contains references to death by suicide and people with alcohol addictions. The referenced book engages in ableism and stereotypes about physical disabilities. It depicts people with physical disabilities in a problematic manner.

In Stoner, John Williams explores the average life as inherently meaningful. Stoner lives, in the author’s opinion, an average or typical life. Despite Stoner’s lack of acclaim, despite his average life, despite not standing out in any particular way, Stoner’s life is worth celebrating and memorializing through literature, the author argues, because the life of the average person is full of nuance, beauty, and universality. Stoner is an everyman type of hero. He is relatable in the author’s view because, like many people, no matter how much hope and effort he puts into his life, the world doesn’t reward him. Stoner’s life story represents many of the developments many people experience. For example, Stoner chooses his own career and passion over his family’s plan for him. Many Americans at this time did the same thing. But it is still a difficult decision to make, which characterizes Stoner as heroic because he is willing to disappoint his family and turn away from the lifestyle he knows in favor of the life he doesn’t know, which is risky.