The Optimist’s Daughter | The Optimist’s Daughter

At a glance:

Author: Eudora Welty
First Published: 1969
Type of Plot: Domestic realism
Time of Work: The early 1960’s
Setting: New Orleans and the fictional town of “Mount Salus,” Mississippi
Principal Characters: Laurel McKelva Hand, Judge Clinton McKelva, Wanda Fay Chisom McKelva, Major Rupert Bullock, Miss Adele Courtland
Genres: Long fiction, Domestic realism
Subjects: 1960’s, Memory, Parents and children, Surgery or surgeons, Fathers, Mississippi, New Orleans, Death or dying, Judges, Funeral rites or ceremonies
Locales: New Orleans, LA, Mississippi, Mount Salus, MS

The Novel

“Is it the Carnival?” asks Fay, as she and Laurel ride through New Orleans in a taxi. It is Mardi Gras, though hardly a festive occasion: The two have just left a hospital where, less than an hour earlier, they witnessed the death of Judge McKelva, Fay’s husband and Laurel’s father.

Fay’s incongruous question typifies the uncomprehending, inadequate, and inappropriate responses to life by many characters in The Optimist’s Daughter. The world of these characters is a microcosm of the larger world glimpsed through carnival-week New Orleans,...

The Optimist’s Daughter | The Optimist’s Daughter

At a glance:

The Novel

Join eNotes