Carl Jones is a native Omahan who writes of midwesterners in a setting strongly suggestive of Omaha. He satirizes the folkways and institutions of the breadbasket area, but he should not be categorized as merely a regional writer because he explores themes of universal concern to man. One of the most important of these themes is man\u27s quest for meaning and dignity in a world which is often enigmatic and cruel. It is that quest which all of Jones\u27 novels are concerned, and it is that theme—initiation--which forms the subject of this thesis
