Summary

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Introduction

Eudora Welty, a celebrated author from Mississippi, wrote "Petrified Man" in 1939. With its dark humor and unsettling twists, the story is a piece of Southern Gothic literature that exposes the hidden secrets and simmering tensions beneath the seemingly ordinary facade of a small Southern community. Welty uses the setting of a hair salon, a hub of gossip and local news, to tell a tale where casual conversation reveals shocking truths and quirky characters become caught up in unexpected events.

Plot Summary

The story begins with Leota, the hairdresser, gossiping with her regular client, Mrs. Fletcher. Leota tells Mrs. Fletcher about their new renter, Mrs. Pike, who is renting a room from Leota and her husband, Fred. Mrs. Fletcher gets upset after noticing some hair loss and blames it on a recent perm. Leota dodges the blame and suggests it might be because Mrs. Fletcher is pregnant. In fact, she says, another client at the salon the previous day mentioned she thought Mrs. Fletcher might be pregnant.

Mrs. Fletcher is aghast that others might know. She wants to know who started the rumor, declaring,

All I know is, whoever it is 'll be sorry some day. Why, I just barely knew it myself!

The conversation is interrupted by Billy Boy, Mrs. Pike's young son, playing with hair clips under the sink. He has been spending his time at the hair salon because he gets into mischief at his mom's millinery job. Mrs. Fletcher expresses a dislike for children. She even says she is almost tempted not to have her own baby.

Leota assures Mrs. Fletcher that her husband would not let her skip having the baby now. Mrs. Fletcher insists her husband cannot control her. 

If he so much as raises his voice against me, he knows good and well I'll have one of my sick head-aches, and then I'm just not fit to live with.

Finally, Leota admits it was not a customer who gossiped — Mrs. Pike herself figured out Mrs. Fletcher was pregnant. Mrs. Fletcher is shocked that a complete stranger could know such a personal thing.

Leota then tells the story of how she and Mrs. Pike attended a traveling freak show the previous day. Mrs. Fletcher detests such things and listens disapprovingly as Leota describes the exhibition. One thing that caught their attention was a petrified man. It seems that this poor man is slowly turning to stone. Leota asks,

How'd you like to be married to a guy like that? All he can do, he can move his head just a quarter of an inch. A course he looks just terrible.

While at the freak show, Mrs. Pike visits a fortune teller, Lady Evangeline. The fortune teller says that Mrs. Pike's husband will always be faithful to his wife. Furthermore, they will soon find themselves with more money.

Lady Evangeline also predicts things about Leota's old boyfriend. Apparently, the prediction says he would not be happy in his marriage. This prediction makes Leota glad she is with her husband, Fred. Mrs. Fletcher seems skeptical about fortune telling, but Leota tells her a story about Mrs. Pike believing a psychic's prediction about traveling and meeting men with gray hair, which came true. 

When Mrs. Fletcher returns for her appointment the next week, she and Leota launch into gossip on various topics. Mrs. Fletcher is still upset that Leota exposed her pregnancy, something she wished to keep secret. The conversation soon returns to the topic of Mrs. Pike. Mrs. Fletcher still thinks negatively of Mrs. Pike for revealing her pregnancy in the first...

(This entire section contains 800 words.)

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place.

Leota then launches into a story about a shocking discovery. It turns out Mrs. Pike recognized a man in a police magazine — the petrified man from the freak show. This man, Mr. Petrie, is wanted for rape and is currently hiding in plain sight in the freak show. The police are offering $500 for information leading to his arrest. Mr. Petrie had already been known to the Pikes years earlier. However, he was difficult to recognize as the petrified man.

More than anything, Leota is upset that she did not recognize the petrified man in the magazine and missed the reward. She also mentions that Mrs. Pike eagerly wanted the reward money and had to argue with her husband about whether to turn in the criminal.

The story ends in a moment of chaos. Leota catches Billy Boy eating her peanuts and loses her cool, flinging a comb and knocking things over. Mrs. Fletcher takes charge and offers to hold Billy Boy down. Leota proceeds to paddle him with a brush, which causes a scene that attracts the attention of the entire beauty salon. Billy Boy, still defiant, storms away, saying, "If you're so smart, why ain't you rich?"

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