Ivy Gripped the Steps (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Elizabeth Bowen
- First Published: 1945
- Type of Plot: Psychological
- Time of Work: 1944, with a flashback spanning the years 1910 to 1912
- Setting: An English coastal town across the channel from France
- Principal Characters: Gavin Doddington, Mrs. Lilian Nicholson, Admiral Concannon
- Genres: Psychological fiction, Short fiction
- Subjects: Memory, World War II, Emotions, War
- Locales: England
The Story
“Ivy Gripped the Steps” is divided into three sections: The first and the third act as frames, being short and set in the present, 1944; the second, by far the longest section, contains a flashback to 1910-1912, when the middle-aged protagonist is between eight and ten years old. As the story opens, an external narrator describes the outside of a brick-and-stone house, which once was prominent but which has become abandoned and neglected since the war made Southstone, on the coast of England, part of the front line.
Ivy overwhelms the house, leaving a...
[The entire page is 1545 words long]
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