The Moving (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: James Still
- First Published: 1941
- Type of Plot: Social realism
- Time of Work: The 1930's
- Setting: A coal-mining camp in eastern Kentucky
- Principal Characters: The narrator, Father, Mother, Hig Sommers, Sula Basham
- Genres: Social realism, Short fiction
- Subjects: Family or family life, United States or Americans, Depression, economic, 1930’s, Mines, miners, or mining, Widows or widowers, Peasantry or peasants, Locks or keys
- Locales: Kentucky
The Story
A boy and his mother are standing by their loaded wagon while his father is nailing the windows of their house shut and spitting into the keyholes to make the locks turn. The mine has closed for all time, and idle men, their wives, and children—some of whom have stuffed their pockets with rocks—are watching the family leave. Only Hig Sommers, a dimwit who speaks things backward, is saddened by the boy's leaving; and only Sula Basham, a tall widow, walks over to say good-bye to Mother and tell her that she ought to be proud that her husband is not satisfied to rot...
[The entire page is 1437 words long]
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