The Geranium by Flannery O’conner

Teddyrose@1

13 years ago

I want to thank Joann at Lakeside Musings for bringing my attention to this story and author. I had not heard of Flannery O’Conner until she reviewed The Geranium.

Old Duddly lives in a southern boarding home in the U.S. He is always busy with visiting with the ladies who live there, and fishing and hunting with a African American man. I think perhaps the man is paid to keep him company but it isn’t totally clear. It is clear that Old Duddly thinks him, after all it is the 1920’s south.

Old Duddly reluctantly moves to live with his daughter and her family in New York. It is clear that he is bored and does not like it there. He is afraid to go out by himself and his daughter rarely has time to do anything with him. He mostly sits and passes the day looking at the geranium that is put out on the balcony across the way every morning. However, one day it’s not there and he finds out that it fell down to the ground from the 6 floors up.

To top that off Old Duddly is shocked to find out that a black man is living right next door!

This is a story of how things change for a person when they grow old but it is also about racial attitudes and how they differ so much depending on where you live. It is quite good and moving. You can read it here.

Short Story Monday is hosted by John at The Book Mine Set.