Midwestern Primitive
Title
Midwestern Primitive
Description
In the short story “Midwestern Primitive,” Bert Statzer tries to impress others by imitating East Coast fashions and styles while her mother, Mrs. Honenschuh, a German farm wife (and widow), insists on being totally herself. Bert frets over being the perfect hostess and painstakingly lays out a perfect dinner table and meal that she has prepared. She is embarrassed by her mother's gardening clothes and dirty hands, and cannot understand why the guests are enchanted by her mother. Suckow contrasts Mrs. Honenschuh’s real garden and flowers with Bert’s fake sweet peas, and asks us to evaluate what is really “Midwestern primitive”?
Creator
Suckow, Ruth
Source
HARPER'S MAGAZINE, March 1928, pages 432-442
Publisher
New York : Harper & Brothers
Date
1928-03
Rights
Copyright held by Barbara Camamo, niece and Literary Executor of the Suckow estate. Downloading for nonproft, educational use only.
Format
11 page short story
Type
Document
Original Format
Magazine short story
Repository
Ruth Suckow Memorial Association
Contact information.
File Name
Midwestern_Primitive_OCR.pdf
Digital item created
16-06-08