The Gun Shop (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: John Updike
- First Published: 1972
- Type of Plot: Realism
- Time of Work: The early 1970's
- Setting: Pennsylvania
- Principal Characters: Ben Trupp, Sally, Young Murray, Murray
- Genres: Realism, Short fiction
- Subjects: Family or family life, Parents and children, Guilt, Emotions, Fathers, Generation gap, Guns, Thanksgiving Day
- Locales: Pennsylvania
The Story
Ben and Sally Trupp, their two daughters, and their fourteen-year-old son, Murray, are visiting Ben's parents in Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving. A highlight of the annual trek from the Trupps’ home in Boston is the opportunity for Murray to shoot his father's old Remington .22, a gun given to Ben when he was about Murray's age. As the father and son go out to a field to shoot the rifle, Ben remembers his son's last birthday, when he tapped Murray's head to quiet him and the boy, holding the cake knife, threatened to kill him if he were hit again. Sally agreed that...
[The entire page is 1329 words long]
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