City Life (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Mary Gordon
- First Published: 1996
- Type of Plot: Domestic realism
- Time of Work: The late 1990's
- Setting: New York
- Principal Characters: Peter Talbot, Beatrice Talbot, A former Columbia chemistry professor
- Genres: Short fiction
- Subjects: Teaching or teachers, Husbands, New York, North America or North Americans, United States or Americans, Wives, Love or romance, Twentieth century, New York City, Marriage, Poverty or poor people, Women, Truthfulness and falsehood, Apartment houses, 1990’s, Sacrifice, Homemakers, Urban life
- Locales: New York
The Story
“City Life” is told in the third person through an omniscient narrator. The story begins with a description of Beatrice's childhood and follows her as she marries Peter Talbot, has three boys, and moves with her husband and children from Ithaca, New York, to an apartment in New York City. The young Beatrice's father is a gravedigger, and her mother is a housewife. Both are alcoholics. The family lives in a one-room, windowless house, down a dirt road in the middle of the woods. The single room serves as bedroom, kitchen, and living area and provides no privacy for...
[The entire page is 1490 words long]
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