A Sandstone Farmhouse
by John Updike
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See Also
- Theory of Short Fiction (Critical Survey of Short Fiction, Second Revised Edition)
- John Updike (Critical Survey of Poetry: American Poets)
- John Updike (Cyclopedia of World Authors, Fourth Revised Edition)
- John Updike (Identities & Issues in Literature)
- John Updike (The Sixties in America)
- John Updike (Critical Survey of Long Fiction, Fourth Edition)
- John Updike (Critical Survey of Short Fiction, Second Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: John Updike
- First Published: 1990
- Type of Plot: Psychological, autobiographical
- Time of Work: The twentieth century
- Setting: A farmhouse in Pennsylvania
- Characters: Joey, His mother
- Genres: Short fiction
- Subjects: North America or North Americans, United States or Americans, Mothers, Parents and children, Twentieth century, Pennsylvania, Farms, farmers, or farming, Death or dying, Inheritance or succession, Home, Bereavement or grief, Houses, mansions, or manors, Happiness
- Locales: United States, Pennsylvania, North America
The Story
When Joey’s mother dies, Joey returns to the sandstone farmhouse built in 1812 in rural Pennsylvania in which she was born and died. Joey lived in the farmhouse from age thirteen until he graduated from high school. After he entered college, he lived mostly in New York City but returned periodically to the farmhouse to visit. His mother lived there alone during her last years, refusing to leave and, for a while, refusing to die because she felt that the farmhouse needed her. Joey, however, resented the move to the farmhouse in his early teens because he had to leave...
(The entire page is 1630 words.)
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