Protagonist inauthenitc mode of existense in William Kenned's ironweed

Abstract

Through Ironweed, William Kennedy shows Francis Phelan, the protagonist, all the time struggling in the disordered world disorderly to make sense out of it, but utterly lacking knowledge not only of his relation to the world but of himself too. So, not being able to get authentic sense of being in his quest, he keeps on moving with utter despair. Enchained with some lethal flaws in his character that he is unable to eschew, he continues leading an inauthentic mode of existence never rising above the forfeiture and knowing himself truly.