In the Zoo (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Jean Stafford
- First Published: 1953
- Type of Plot: Domestic realism
- Time of Work: The early twentieth century
- Setting: Adams, Colorado
- Principal Characters: The narrator, Mrs. Daisy Murphy, Mrs. Placer (Gran), Mr. Murphy, Laddy (Caesar)
- Genres: Short fiction, Domestic realism
- Subjects: Memory, Dogs, Jealousy, envy, or resentment, Orphans or orphanages, Hunting or hunters, Animals, Poisons or poisoning, Animals, dangerous, Zoos
- Locales: Adams, CO
The Story
Two sisters, now grown and living apart, visit each other every other year at a convenient railroad hub, Denver. There they go to the zoo and reminisce about their childhood, especially about Mr. Murphy, who kept a small collection of animals in his backyard, and their foster mother, the awful Mrs. Placer.
Mrs. Placer ran a boardinghouse, and she liked her tenants and the girls to call her Gran. She and the boarders had a favorite activity: nursing resentments. At the end of each day, sitting down to their “ugly-colored” meal, Mrs. Placer and the guests...
[The entire page is 1359 words long]
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