Who is Cornelius Suttree from Suttree and what is their importance?

Suttree is a man probably in his early thirties, who cannot live a life prescribed by society. He has abandoned his family and returned to the city of his childhood, choosing a life of vagrancy and drunkenness. He is probably not as self-destructive as he seems, but is more in desperate search for his true values and what is important.