Petrified Man (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Eudora Welty
- First Published: 1939
- Type of Plot: Realism
- Time of Work: The late 1930's
- Setting: A small southern town
- Principal Characters: Leota, Fred, Mrs. Fletcher, Mr. and Mrs. Pike, Mr. Petrie, Billy Boy
- Genres: Short fiction
- Subjects: Small-town life
- Locales: South (U.S.)
The Story
The story opens abruptly in a beauty parlor with the animated conversation between Leota and her shampoo-and-set customer, Mrs. Fletcher. Amid a number of unrelated subjects, Leota mentions a Mrs. Pike in passing, piquing Mrs. Fletcher's curiosity. The Pikes, Leota explains, are a couple renting a room from her and her husband, Fred. The conversation wanders from topic to topic, until Leota blurts out that someone has seen Mrs. Fletcher on the street and discerned that she is pregnant. This galls Mrs. Fletcher, and she demands to know who reported this so she can plot...
[The entire page is 1010 words long]
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