Homeland (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Barbara Kingsolver
- First Published: 1989
- Type of Plot: Coming of age, social realism
- Time of Work: The 1950's
- Setting: Kentucky and Tennessee
- Principal Characters: Gloria St. Clair, Great Mam, Florence Ann, Papa
- Genres: Short fiction
- Subjects: 1950’s, Girls, Family or family life, North America or North Americans, United States or Americans, Traveling or travelers, Tradition, Mythology or myths, South or Southerners, Twentieth century, Nature, Poverty or poor people, Flowers, Native Americans or American Indians, Tennessee, Death or dying, Grandparents or grandchildren, Home, Kentucky
- Locales: Kentucky, Tennessee
The Story
In the three-part story “Homeland,” eleven-year-old Gloria St. Clair travels the path cleared by her great-grandmother, Great Mam, an elder of the Cherokee Bird Clan. Young Gloria is destined to grow up and become a Beloved Woman, the one who stores her family history and her tribe's myths and legends in memory. The youngster worries about the weight of this responsibility: How will she ever be able to remember Great Mam's immense knowledge of family, nature, and Cherokee myth? In the end, she succeeds brilliantly.
The first part begins with a brief...
[The entire page is 1338 words long]
