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The Menagerie
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Plot Summary of The Menagerie
"Jinny Broadhurst has a large family of adult children and a sister who is mildly mentally challenged. Trying to keep her large extended family on the straight and narrow path of normality is sometimes more than Jinny can handle. Her sister, Lottie is innocently outlandish and has a little girl quality about her that makes everyone love and protect her. Jinny's house sometimes does seem like a menagerie especially when her favoured son Larry tries to find his lost innocence by taking up with a woman who is above him in station. His problems are worsened by the close proximity of his lost fiance and the woman he scorned for her living across the street from his home. Jinny is always afraid that the next generation will also become a menagerie. "
Colleen Naqshbandi, Resident Scholar

Review Analysis of The Menagerie
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book? - thoughtful
Time/era of story - 1930's-1950's
Romance/Romance Problems Yes
Family, caring for ill Yes
Who is sick? - Sister
because he/she is - mentally ill
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Lover is - of a different social class

Main Character
Gender - Female
Profession/status: - homemaker
Age: - 40's-50's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes
Ethnicity/Nationality - British
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - bulging muscles

Main Adversary
Identity: - society
Age: - 40's-50's
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a substantial amount
How sensitive is this character? - hard edged
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence

Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings? - 5 (an average amount)
Small town? Yes
Small town people: - dumb Rednecks, like Gomer Pyle

Style
Person - mostly 3rd
Unusual Style: - No single main character?
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
Most similar books to The Menagerie
The Master Butchers Singing Club by Louise Erdrich
The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty
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No Angel by Penny Vincenzi
Goodbye, Columbus by Philip Roth


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Catherine Cookson Resident Scholar Profiles

TOP SCHOLAR:
  
Susan Coffey  

SCHOLARS:
Brandy Todd  


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