Vein of Iron (Masterplots II: Women’s Literature Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Ellen Glasgow
- First Published: 1935
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Naturalism
- Time of Work: December, 1901, to April, 1933
- Setting: Ironside and Queensborough, a fictional village and town in Virginia
- Principal Characters: Ada Fincastle McBride, John Fincastle, Grandmother Fincastle, Janet Rowan, Ralph McBride
- Genres: Long fiction
- Subjects: Virginia
- Locales: Ironside, VA
Form and Content
Ellen Glasgow’s Vein of Iron is a novel of many messages, the principal one of which is encapsulated in a brief dialogue on its last page. The protagonist, Ada, and her husband, Ralph, in middle age have returned to Ironside, their native village in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. Misunderstandings, failures, poverty, sicknesses, deception, and deaths lie behind them. Ralph gently chides Ada for being a dreamer but adds that it is queer that a dreamer nevertheless should be a rock upon which to lean. Understanding in her heart that Ralph is confessing...
[The entire page is 2154 words long]
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