Stafford, Jean - Maureen Ryan (essay date 1987)
Maureen Ryan (essay date 1987)
SOURCE: "Orphans in Solitary Confinement: The Short Stories," in Innocence and Estrangement in the Fiction of Jean Stafford, Louisiana State University Press, 1987, pp. 129-42.
[In the following essay, Ryan discusses Stafford's depiction of women and children in her short fiction. ]
As her novels and stories indicate, in technique as well as theme, Jean Stafford is interested in discovery, in the revelatory moment, in the burgeoning of awareness. Appropriately, of all her characters, her children most vividly and cogently present her world view. Handicapped by their youthful inefficacy and their limited knowledge and understanding, these young people are frequently put further at a disadvantage by less common circumstances: some are orphaned and unwanted; some (like Molly Fawcett) are precocious and misunderstood; and nearly all bear the double burden of being both young and female. As the titles of some...
[The entire page is 5507 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Navigate
