The Creature (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Edna O’Brien
- First Published: 1974
- Type of Plot: Psychological
- Time of Work: The twentieth century
- Setting: A village in western Ireland
- Principal Characters: The Creature, Her grown son, Her son's wife, The narrator
- Genres: Psychological fiction, Short fiction
- Subjects: Love or romance, Betrayal, Despair, Hope, Loneliness, Names, Separation, Ireland or Irish people, Joy or sorrow
- Locales: Ireland
The Story
The story is narrated by a young woman getting over an unhappy love affair, who has come to a village in western Ireland as a substitute teacher. Fascinated with a widow whom everyone calls the “Creature,” she seeks to befriend the woman. During visits to the Creature's house, the narrator is invariably served “a glass of rhubarb wine and sometimes a slice of porter cake” and hears the tales of the woman's meager, sorrow-filled life. During these visits, she learns that the Creature has been long separated from her only son and nearest living child. The...
[The entire page is 1366 words long]
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