THE NEON BIBLE

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'''The Neon Bible''' is John Kennedy Toole's first novel, written at the age of only 16. Its main appeal is as an early look at the writer who would later write ''A Confederacy of Dunces''. Toole thought it too juvenile a writing attempt to submit for publication during his life. It was published posthumously in 1989.
Thelma Toole, John's mother tried to stop the book's publication, though was eventually forced to allow it after a lawsuit by her relatives, which she lost due to one of the finer points of Louisiana's Napoleonic code-influenced inheritance law.
The novel is a bildungsroman about a young man named David, growing up in rural Louisiana during the late 1930s to early 1950s, and gradually learning of religious, racial, social and sexual bigotry.
The story is told as the narrator's ten strongest memories, one memory per chapter.

Contents

Plot summary

Allusions/references to other works

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

Plot summary

The book opens with David on a train going somewhere neither he nor the reader knows. Looking out the window of the train on to the surrounding land makes David begin to tell his story.
The story begins as David's Aunt Mae, a former actress and singer, moves in with David's family in their small house in the middle of town. Aunt Mae becomes sexually involved with a seventy-year-old man, which ends when the man is arrested on morality charges, and David does not get along with the other boys his own age. Soon after, David's father Frank loses his job at the factory in town and the family is forced to move to a rickety house on top of a hill overlooking the town. The family sinks into poverty, and Frank can only find part time employment as a gas station attendant.
As the family's circumstances worsen, Frank begins to care less about his family. When the family runs out of money, he buys seeds that will not grow in the clay of the hill soil instead of food with his small paycheck. His wife confronts him and he punches her, knocking out one of her teeth. His wife bleeds badly, but this eventually subsides. Frank eventually leaves to fight in World War II, being shipped to Italy.
While Frank is in Italy, a revival headed by evangelist Bobbie Lee Thompson comes to town. The town preacher, who opposes the revival starts a rival Bible study class, which splits the town in half. Much of the drama is played through editorials in the newspaper and spots on the town radio station as each side attacks the other. Aunt Mae gets a job in the propeller factory as a supervisor, and organizes a dance the whole town attends. At the dance, Aunt Mae sings and the townspeople are very impressed. Aunt Mae eventually joins a band in order to make more money for the family.
Soon after the dance, the family receives a telegram stating that Frank had been killed in Italy. Frank's death causes David's mother to go insane, and David spends most of his time taking care of her, while Aunt Mae goes out with her singing group. David, now fifteen, gets a job at the pharmacy in town, where he meets Jo Lynne, a girl staying in the valley to help her grandfather get better. After seeing a melodramatic movie, David and Jo Lynne visit the houses that are being built and have their own small melodramatic kiss.
Clyde, a member of Aunt Mae's band who is in love with her, tells Aunt Mae that they could get a record deal in Nashville. She leaves David and his mother home alone. David decides to quit his job to take care of his mother, but on his way back to the hill, he comes home to fix himself supper. As he finishes his supper he begins to wonder where his mother is, she usually spends most of the day in the back yard where Frank's failed crop use to be. As he climbs the stairs he steps in a liquid, this liquid turns out to be his mother's blood. he finds his mother fallen and bleeding from the back of her mouth at the top of the stairs. The bleeding subsides, but eventually she dies. Her last word is "Frank."
The imperious preacher visits David's house to take his (now dead) mother to the elderly asylum. The preacher pushes past David to go upstairs, and as he climbs the stairs David shoots him through the back of the head, killing him. David takes all the money he has, and boards the train, hoping to start afresh wherever his money runs out.
The book is told entirely from the first person, and the main character is rarely referred to as David. David's name is mentioned very briefly at the beginning, and more strongly at the end. The restatement of his name is probably meant to jar the reader into paying closer attention.

Allusions/references to other works

The influence of Tennessee Williams' ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' is evident in some of the dialogue.
The 2007 album Neon Bible by the Canadian band Arcade Fire shares the name of Toole's novel.

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

In 1995 a movie of the book was released. The film ''The Neon Bible'' was directed by Terence Davies, with a screenplay by Terence Davies based on Toole's novel. The cast includes Drake Bell, Leo Burmester, Denis Leary, Peter McRobbie, Gena Rowlands, Diana Scarwid, and Jacob Tierney.