John Ford's "Tis Pity She's a Whore" (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Angela Carter
- First Published: 1988
- Type of Plot: Metafiction
- Time of Work: The late nineteenth century
- Setting: The prairie somewhere in the American Midwest
- Principal Characters: Johnny, Annie-Belle, The minister's son
- Genres: Short fiction
- Subjects: Girls, North America or North Americans, United States or Americans, Murder or homicide, Nineteenth century, Marriage, Midwest, Incest, Jealousy, envy, or resentment, Pregnancy, Death or dying, Ranches, ranchers, or ranching, Boys
- Locales: Midwest (U.S.)
The Story
This story imagines what twentieth century film director John Ford, known for his Westerns, would have done if he had made a film adaptation of Jacobean playwright John Ford's ’Tis Pity She's a Whore (1629?-1633).
An unnamed rancher sets up home in a remote region of the American prairie. After bearing two children—a boy named Johnny and a girl named Annie-Belle—his wife dies. The children's only human contact, apart from their taciturn and overworked father, is the minister of the nearest town, who drives out in a buggy to collect them every...
[The entire page is 1472 words long]
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