He was a hobo by choice: As a little boy, he'd seen a hobo come up to ask his mother for a piece of pie and she had given it to him and when the hobo went off down the road the little boy had said, "Ma, what was that fellow?" "Why, that's a hobo."

他是自愿成为流浪汉的：,当他还是个小男孩的时候，他见过一个流浪汉向他妈妈,要一块派，他妈妈给他了,于是当流浪汉离开的时候小男孩就问，“妈妈，那个家伙是谁“，“是个流浪汉“

耶鲁公开课 - 1945年后的美国小说课程节选

And, if you skip over to 215, this image comes back of this mother: "All cars had disappeared except his station wagon. His pregnant young wife was now getting into it with her baby and the other more or less canceled child."

还有，如果你翻到215页，这个妈妈的形象会再次出现：,“所有的车都不见了，只剩下他的小汽车，他,他怀孕的妻子正抱着婴儿上车，那个惹是生非的小男孩,也上去了“

耶鲁公开课 - 1945年后的美国小说课程节选