Order of Insects (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: William H. Gass
- First Published: 1961
- Type of Plot: Psychological
- Time of Work: The late 1950's
- Setting: Suburban United States
- Principal Characters: The narrator, Her husband
- Genres: Psychological fiction, Short fiction
- Subjects: 1950’s, Family or family life, Husbands, United States or Americans, Wives, Philosophy or philosophers, Suburban life, Life, philosophy of, Insects
- Locales: United States
The Story
The first-person narrator was once a typical homemaker, terrified by the fast-moving roaches in the family's previous house and concerned only with her motherly and wifely duties. Then she notices the dead bugs that appear daily on the living-room carpet, and as self-punishment for mistreating the children one evening, she forces herself to examine the bugs carefully.
Initially, she reacts predictably and normally, in her opinion, by withdrawing in disgust from the ugly insects. Strongly and unaccountably to her, however, she later begins to study the bugs in...
[The entire page is 1432 words long]
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