Jan 5, 2010
A Sandstone Farmhouse | A Sandstone Farmhouse
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
- Principal 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: Pennsylvania
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 a...
[The entire page is 1463 words long]
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