Written in 1941, "Petrified Man is a situation comedy set in a Mississippi beauty parlor where nothing much happens. The year is 1939 and the entire story takes place over the course to two hairdressing appointments as Leota (the shop's owner) and Mrs. Fletcher (her client) discuss their husbands. At the center of their antagonist exchanges, Mrs. Pike comes in the picture. The story reveals the social tensions of the Depression Era and the cultural shifts taking place in the American South. Welty presents the reader with a world all too familiar yet somewhat strange.
When reading the dialect it is best to read it aloud.
When reading the dialect it is best to read it aloud.