The Brother (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Robert Coover
- First Published: 1969
- Type of Plot: Parody
- Time of Work: The time of the biblical Flood
- Setting: Probably the Middle East
- Principal Characters: The narrator, His wife, His older brother, His brother's wife
- Genres: Short fiction, Allegory, Parody
- Subjects: Farms, farmers, or farming, Bible, biblical imagery, or biblical symbolism, Biblical times, Floods, Prophecy or prophets, Shipbuilding, Boats or boating
- Locales: Ancient world
The Story
The narrator contemplates the most recent of his elder brother's “buggy ideas”: building a boat—a rather large boat, in a field far from any water. Although he is skeptical, as are his and his brother's wives, he does what he always has done for his sibling. He helps and humors him, though he also wonders how his simple-minded brother has managed to learn so much about boat building. Devoting more and more time to helping his brother, the narrator guiltily neglects both his own farm and his pregnant wife. She, however, manages to sow enough seed to ensure their...
[The entire page is 1382 words long]
