The Albatross
by Susan Hill
- 5 Members Following
Follow a topic to see new activity, such as homework help questions and answers, in your personal feed on the homepage.
At a glance:
- Author: Susan Hill
- First Published: 1969
- Type of Plot: Social realism
- Time of Work: 1968
- Setting: A fishing village in northeast England
- Characters: Duncan Pike, Hilda Pike, Ted Flint
- Genres: Social realism, Short fiction
- Subjects: Freedom, Mothers, Parents and children, Murder or homicide, Emotions, Disabilities or physically challenged persons, Mental retardation
- Locales: Europe, England, United Kingdom
The Story
Duncan Pike is an eighteen-year-old man with limited intelligence and thus an outsider to himself and to the small fishing village in which he lives. His agonizing feeling of being an outcast is reinforced by his domineering mother, Hilda, who constantly reminds him, “We keep ourselves to ourselves in this town.” His mother wants him to be alone; she clings to him for several reasons. For one, she is handicapped, like her son. Because she is confined to a wheelchair, she depends on Duncan to help her through each day. She also underestimates her son: She thinks him...
(The entire page is 1375 words.)
Want to read the whole thing?
Subscribe now to read the rest of this article. Plus, get access to:
- 30,000+ literature study guides
- Critical essays on more than 30,000 works of literature from Salem on Literature (exclusive to eNotes)
- An unparalleled literary criticism section. 40,000 full-length or excerpted essays.
- Content from leading academic publishers, all easily citable with our "Cite this page" button.
- 100% satisfaction guarantee READ MORE
