Impulse (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Conrad Aiken
- First Published: 1933
- Type of Plot: Psychological
- Time of Work: About 1920
- Setting: Boston
- Principal Characters: Michael Lowes, Dora Lowes, Smith, Bryant, Hurwitz, A store detective
- Genres: Psychological fiction, Short fiction
- Subjects: Prisoners, Psychology or psychologists, Divorce, Theft, Paranoia
- Locales: Boston, MA
The Story
Although Conrad Aiken's title might suggest that “Impulse” concerns a whimsical, unpremeditated action, the story actually examines an ostensibly “impulsive” action and finds, instead, that the “impulse” is really the logical culmination of a series of actions in the life of Michael Lowes, the protagonist. If fact, the story is a fictionalized psychological study of a paranoid “loser,” whose attempts to escape from reality are self-destructive acts that lead to his arrest and conviction for theft and to an impending divorce from his wife.
Just...
[The entire page is 1575 words long]
