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| Plot Summary of Main Street |
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"This is the story of one woman's alienation from the dull mediocrity of American middle-class life. One of the earliest books of this genre (pub. 1920), it is startlingly feminist in its sentiments. Carol Kennicott follows her new husband to his small Minnesota town and tries to make a life for herself among its narrowly-focused, complacent elite."
Gretchen Boger, Resident Scholar
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"Carol Milford, an idealistic young librarian in turn-of-the-century St. Paul, marries a country doctor who convinces her that, as his wife, she will be able to uplift and reform a grateful society in a Minnesota prairie town. Instead, she finds that cliquishness, petty rivalries, social injustice, and a smug resistance to outside ideas distinguish most of her new neighbors -- including her husband.
Carol does not succeed in reforming the town, but through various struggles she comes to appreciate that belonging to a family and to a community are human needs which go largely unrequited in the life of a full-time social reformer. She realizes that even in a cosmopolitan city, she has only a finite circle of close friends and aquaintances, and that the proximity of cultural opportunities does not guarantee their appreciation. Carol is forced to admit to herself that in her efforts to reform and educate others, she was herself practicing narrow-minded intolerance as surely as she was deploring it. Finally, she realizes that her opportunity for real impact on society will be in her raising of her children to strive, to question, to be full participants in the brave new world thinking people of her generation were only beginning to conceive of."
Charlotte Streeter, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of Main Street |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book?
- humorous
Time/era of story
- 1900-1920's
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Outside culture (society)
- American Midwest
If story of urban/rural...
- urban moving to rural
Ethnic/regional/gender life
Yes
Main Character
Gender
- Female
Profession/status:
- homemaker
Age:
- 20's-30's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
- Very much smarter than other characters
Physique
- average physique
Main Adversary
Identity:
- society
Age:
- 40's-50's
Profession/status:
- champion of justice
Eccentric/Smart/Dumb:
Yes
Eccentric:
- deluded
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- throughout most of the book.
How sensitive is this character?
- mean, arrogant
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 9 ()
United States
Yes
The US:
- Midwest
Prairie?
Yes
Small town?
Yes
Small town people:
- nice, like Andy/Opie/Aunt Bee
- hostile, like Gomer Pyle on steroids
Style
Person
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- moderately detailed references to deaths
Sex in book?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- vague references
- descript of kissing
Amount of dialog
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
- significantly more descript than dialog
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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