As We Are Now"I am not mad, only old. . . . I am in a concentration camp for the old." So begins May Sarton's short, swift blow of a novel, about the powerlessness of the old and the rage it can bring. As We Are Now tells the story of Caroline Spencer, a 76-year-old retired schoolteacher, mentally strong but physically frail, who has been moved by relatives into a "home." Subjected to subtle humiliations and petty cruelties, sustained for too short a time by the love of another person, she fights back with all she has, and in a powerful climax wins a terrible victory. |
Contents
Section 1 | 9 |
Section 2 | 35 |
Section 3 | 47 |
Section 4 | 60 |
Section 5 | 76 |
Section 6 | 82 |
Section 7 | 92 |
Section 8 | 97 |
Section 9 | 115 |
Section 10 | 116 |
Section 11 | 125 |
Section 12 | 132 |
Section 13 | |
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Common terms and phrases
afraid Alex alive anger Anna answer asked asked Harriet bedpans believe blouse blue blue streak bring Caro Caroline Spencer cheerful Close comfort concentration camps copybooks course crying dear death despair door everything eyes father feel felt fire Fred Smith frigidaire geese gentle Ginny girl give guess hands happened hard Harriet and Rose hear heard heart Hermès hour human Hurricane Isabel imagine inside Jack John keep Kleenex lapis lazuli laughed least letter Lisa listening live look Lord's Prayer mind Miss Spencer morning Mozart never night once perhaps person Poems remember Richard Thornhill Sarton seems silence sleep smile someone sometimes Standish strange suppose sure Susie talk tell terribly thing thought Today told tray turbed Twin Elms waiting weeks weep whisper woman wonder words write