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.

William Stoner attends the University of Missouri starting in 1910 and stays with the University of Missouri through his graduate studies. He becomes an English professor and teaches at the University of Missouri until he dies in 1956. In the years after his death, his colleagues and former students quickly forget about him.

William Stoner was born on a small farm in Booneville, Missouri, in 1891. William grows up in a quiet but supportive household. He works on the farm and, as his father’s only child, is expected to take over the farm when he finishes school. Unexpectedly, his father instead decides to send William to the new Agriculture School at the University of Missouri. William is to work off his tuition and board by working on his mother’s cousin’s farm. William’s father never finished high school, but he sees the value in William getting a higher education and learning new skills and strategies for farming.

William travels to Jim Foote’s farm, where he’ll be living and working during his undergraduate years.