Zusammenfassung
Zusammenfassung von Peggy O’Neal
Für wen es gedacht ist
Readers who enjoy a vivid portrait of Andrew Jackson, Washington gossip and political intrigue, plus lovers of duels, banquets and a tender, unfinished romance told in a warm, talkative frontier voice.
Worum es in diesem Buch geht
Peggy O'Neal is a historical novel by Alfred Henry Lewis, who died in 1914. It is told by an old Tennessee planter called the Major, who stood at Andrew Jackson's side when the new president arrived in Washington in 1829. The book turns the so-called Eaton affair, the social war over a tavern keeper's daughter, into a story of loyalty, slander, politics and a quiet private ache.
The Major tells it as a friend and witness. Jackson has just buried his wife Rachel and arrives in the capital frail, stubborn and ready to fight. He insists on naming his friend John Eaton Secretary of War, though Eaton has just married the widowed Peg O'Neal, whom polite Washington will not receive. Around her swirl duels, anonymous letters, rival newspapers and the great quarrel over Nullification. You get a lively portrait of Jackson at close range, and a sharp look at how gossip becomes a weapon. Let us begin where the Major begins, in a hotel parlor at the Indian Queen.
In dieser Zusammenfassung
- 1A President Arrives Carrying GriefFree
- 2Jackson Names Eaton Despite the Gossip
- 3Meeting Peg and Her Champions
- 4Slander Takes New Shapes
- 5Calhoun, Van Buren and the Wider Plot
- 6The Major and Peg at Crosses
- 7Peg Wins Washington Society
- 8Nullification and the Seven-Word Toast
Punkt 1 von 8
A President Arrives Carrying Grief
The Major opens by confessing that politics and war have made him hard, yet he cannot describe Peg O'Neal without wishing he were a painter. He remembers the journey with General Jackson from Nashville to Washington, along the Cumberland and Ohio rivers and then over the mountains. Jackson is weak, his wife Rachel only twelve weeks in her grave, and the Major fears he will die on the way.
Crowds meet them at every landing, and the General feeds on their cheers like a man taking medicine in wine. The two take rooms at the Indian Queen, the very inn that Peg's father once kept. There the old wound from the Dickenson duel tears open, and Jackson bleeds himself with a pocketknife while the servant Augustus holds the basin.
The Major describes how Jackson keeps a small portrait of Rachel hung around his neck. Each night he reads her hymns beside it, as if he were reporting the day to her. This private devotion explains much of what follows. Jackson says he cannot be both a politician and a Christian, and the Major answers that he is a president, not a politician, to draw him out of his sorrow.
The Major's jokes cannot hide how much the old soldier is carrying. He is a widower, a sick man and a president-elect who must now choose a cabinet. The Major comes to see that Jackson's strength and his wounds come from the same source, a heart that loves fiercely and cannot forgive those who hurt the people it loves.
That heart is about to be tested over a single name.
That’s 1 of 8 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Questions about Peggy O’Neal
What is Peggy O'Neal about?
It tells of the social and political war around Peg Eaton in Andrew Jackson's first year as president. Jackson names her husband to the cabinet, Washington's ladies shun her, and Jackson's friends fight to defend her.
Who is Peg O'Neal in history?
Peggy O'Neal, later Peggy Eaton, was the daughter of a Washington tavern keeper who married John Eaton, Jackson's Secretary of War. The novel builds a lively story around that real controversy, with invented scenes and dialogue.
Who tells the story in Peggy O'Neal?
A Tennessee planter called the Major tells it as an old man. He is Jackson's close friend and adviser, and he writes with humor, warmth and frank opinions about the people around him.
What is the Nullification crisis in this book?
It is the dispute over whether a state could nullify a federal law or leave the Union. The book shows Calhoun's followers pushing it and Jackson meeting them with a toast to the Union at a Jefferson dinner.
Is Peggy O'Neal easy to read?
Yes, in the sense that the chapters are short, the scenes are lively, and the dialogue carries the story. The Major's talkative, humorous voice and Jim's comic speeches keep it moving.