Union Street (Masterplots II: Women’s Literature Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Pat Barker
- First Published: 1982
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Social realism
- Time of Work: The 1970’s
- Setting: A working-class neighborhood in a city in northern England
- Principal Characters: Kelly Brown, Joanne Wilson, Lisa Goddard, Muriel Scaife, Iris King, Blonde Dinah, Alice Bell
- Genres: Long fiction, Social realism
- Subjects: Maturation or coming of age, 1970’s, Suffering, Adolescence, Poverty or poor people, Pregnancy, Rape, Inner cities or inner-city life, England or English people, Women, Death or dying, Abortion, Housing
- Locales: England
Form and Content
Each of the seven chapters in the novel re-creates the experiences of a different woman who lives on Union Street. Each chapter portrays the experiences of a woman older than the primary character in the previous chapter, so that the novel provides a view of the intergenerational “stages of life” of all the women on Union Street. Although each chapter stands alone in the context of the overall work, the novel is best read as a series of interlocking stories that provide insights into different dimensions of women’s experience. The women in this novel are...
[The entire page is 2101 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Navigate
See Also
