Cruel and Barbarous Treatment (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Mary McCarthy
- First Published: 1939
- Type of Plot: Psychological
- Time of Work: The mid-twentieth century
- Setting: New York City
- Principal Characters: The young woman, Bill, The young man
- Genres: Psychological fiction, Short fiction
- Subjects: Sex or sexuality, Friendship, Divorce
- Locales: New York, NY
The Story
In this, Mary McCarthy's first published story, the initial two sentences summarize the whole. The remainder of the narrative details the careful, ritualized process by which the protagonist makes her way from a clandestine affair to public disclosure and impending divorce. McCarthy's satiric view of bourgeois society is never sharper than in this study of how a bored woman transforms her life from a series of “timekillers, matters of routine” to one of “perilous and dramatic adventures,” merely by ending her marriage in three steps. This is a story wherein...
[The entire page is 1502 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
See Also
