The Burning (Welty story)
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| "The Burning" | |
|---|---|
| Short story by Eudora Welty | |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Publication | |
| Publisher | Harper's Bazaar |
| Publication date | March 1951 |
"The Burning" is a short story by Eudora Welty originally published in Harper's Bazaar (March 1951) and first collected in The Bride of the Innisfallen and Other Stories (1955) by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.[1] The story is unique among Welty's fiction in that it deals directly with the American Civil War.[2] "The Burning" won second prize in the O. Henry Awards in 1951.[3][4]
"The Burning" is presented from a third-person point-of-view by a reliable narrator.
The story takes place in the early summer of 1863 in Mississippi during the American Civil War. The Confederate fortress at Vicksburg has fallen to Union forces; white residents around Jackson are urged to evacuate the area by rebel General Pemberton: Union troops under General Sherman are advancing, burning civilian infrastructure and plantations.
Two mistresses, the sisters Miss Theo and Miss Myra, ignore the warning and remain at the family plantation: their eldest brother is presumed to have died in combat; their father is dead. The only white male on the premises is a younger brother, a boy.
Yankee troops arrive and plantation slaves mingle with their liberators. Two Union officers enter the house on horseback and announce an inspection to remove persons from the premises before it is set on fire. One of the men dismounts and rapes Miss Myra; Miss Theo fends off the other officer. The women are led from the house and observe its destruction; their young brother dies in the flames. Afterwards, the sisters hang themselves from a pecan tree with the assistance of their domestic slave, Delilah.
Delilah examines the ruins of the charred house and grasps that she is free. Collecting some of her mistresses' jewelry and shoes, she makes her way by foot to Jackson.[5]
