36 pages • 1 hour read
Mary HoodHow Far She Went
Fiction | Short Story Collection | Adult | Published in 1984A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Story 4: “A Country Girl”Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Story 4 Summary
It is time for the annual Inglish family reunion, “just like always” (60), except that a writer, Paul Montgomery, visits the town to interview Uncle Cleveland Inglish, the family patriarch. The subject of his article is a famous, deceased writer whose home sits near the Inglish homestead. He is guided around town by the protagonist—Elizabeth Inglish, the quintessential country girl, who is described at the outset as “a barefoot girl with a flat-top guitar” often found sitting on the porch (49).
The reunion ensues, with music and food and all the Southern comforts and traditions carried through generations. Elizabeth chooses her beau-to-be, Johnny Calhoun, when Johnny gifts her a music box. Montgomery leaves town, and shortly after his publication, the family finds that the story has inspired a number of tourists to drive by. When they do, they often find Elizabeth on the same porch, guitar in hand.
Story 4 Analysis
By the fourth story, the notion of the symbolic replacing authentic, human experience deepens as the collection moves towards the title story’s climactic trauma, which disrupts all the pretense of the opening half of this collection. The fourth story paints an archetypical picture of pastoral Georgia that gives the impression one could leave the town and return to find everything exactly as one left it.
