The Beach Umbrella (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Cyrus Colter
- First Published: 1963
- Type of Plot: Domestic realism
- Time of Work: Summer, around 1963
- Setting: Chicago
- Principal Characters: Elijah, Myrtle, Randall, Mrs. Green
- Genres: Short fiction, Domestic realism
- Subjects: Family or family life, Alienation, Ambition, Theft, Loneliness, Work or workers, Beaches or seashores, Summer, Umbrellas or parasols
- Locales: Chicago, IL
The Story
On a hot Saturday in late summer, Elijah lolls in the sun on a Lake Michigan beach, like many others out to have a good time. Unlike them, however, he is alone and does not have a beach umbrella. Enchanted by the crowd of frolickers, he comes to the beach almost every Saturday, but his family has stayed home, where his wife is growing upset about his lack of ambition for his family. When she scolds him about getting a “real job,” such as a high-paying job in a steel mill, he thinks of her as being “money-crazy.”
Watching the smoke rising from a mill...
[The entire page is 1460 words long]
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