Robert Silverberg

Name: There was an old woman—
Author: Robert Silverberg

There was an old woman— (1958)

Summary

“There was an old woman—”, published in 1958, is a work by Robert Silverberg. It explores elements such as farm, professions and Mark.

Quotes from There was an old woman— (Robert Silverberg)

Robert Silverberg, There was an old woman— (1958)

“ We left the farm that night, scattering in every direction, anxious to begin life. All that went before was a dream from which we now awakened. We agreed to meet at the farm each year, on the anniversary of her death, in memory of the woman who had so painstakingly divided a zygote into thirty-two viable cells, and who had spent a score of years conducting an experiment based on a theory that had proven to be utterly false.
We felt no regret, no qualm. We had done what needed to be done, and on that last day some of us had finally functioned in the professions for which Mother had intended us. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Robert Silverberg, There was an old woman— (1958)

“ I knew my brother Leonard's cheekmole—the right cheek it was, setting him off from Jonas, whose left cheek was marked with a flyspeck. I knew the faint tilt of Peter's chin, the slight oversharpness of Dewey's nose, the florid tint of Donald's skin, I recognized Paul by his pendulous earlobes, Charles by his squint, Noel by the puckering of his lowerlip. David had a blue-stubbled face, Mark flaring nostrils, Claude thick brows.
Yes, there were differences. We rarely confused one with another. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Robert Silverberg, There was an old woman— (1958)

“ Claude and George jostling for room on the piano bench while they played Claude's four-hand sonata, Mark hurling a baseball through a front window, Peter declaiming a sequence of shocking sonnets during our communal dinner.
We fought, of course, since we were healthy individualists with sound bodies. Mother encouraged it; Saturday afternoon was wrestling time, and we pitted our growing strengths against one another.
Mother was always the dominant figure, striding tall and erect around the farm, calling to us in her familiar boom, assigning us chores, meeting with us privately. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Robert Silverberg, There was an old woman— (1958)

“ I remember her vividly, seeing her with all her sons gathered 'round her in our secluded Wisconsin farmhouse on the first night of summer, after we had returned to her from every part of the country for our summer's vacation. One-and-thirty strapping sons, each one of us six feet one inch tall, with a shock of unruly yellow hair and keen, clear blue eyes, each one of us healthy, strong, well-nourished, each one of us twenty-one years and fourteen days old, one-and-thirty identical brothers. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Robert Silverberg, There was an old woman— (1958)

“ One could not become a doctor or a chemist or a novelist or even an historian in a total vacuum. One had to enter the world. And one needed certain professional qualifications.
We were going to college.
Not all of us, of course. Robert was to be a bookkeeper; he would go to a business school. Mark had developed, through years of practice, into a superb right-handed pitcher, and he was to go to Milwaukee for a major-league tryout. Claude and George, aspiring composer and aspiring pianist, would attend an eastern conservatory together, posing as twins. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Robert Silverberg, There was an old woman— (1958)

“ Philip was to be a playwright, Noel a novelist, Donald a doctor. Astronomy was Allan's goal, Barry's biology, Albert's the stage. George was to be a concert pianist, Claude a composer, Leonard a member of the bar, Dewey a dentist. Mark was to be an athlete; David, a diplomat. Journalism waited for Jonas, poetry for Peter, painting for Paul. Edward would become an engineer, Saul a soldier, Charles a statesman; Stephen would go to sea. Martin was aimed for chemistry, Raymond for physics, James for high finance. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Robert Silverberg, There was an old woman— (1958)

“ Instead, she tutored us privately, giving us care and attention that no professional teacher could possibly have supplied. And we grew older, diverging toward our professions like branching limbs of a tree.
As a future historian, of course, I took it upon myself to observe the changes in my own society, which was bounded by the acreage of our farm. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Robert Silverberg, There was an old woman— (1958)

“ The rest of us were to attend colleges, and those who were to go on to professions such as medicine or chemistry would plan to attend professional schools afterward. Mother believed the college education was essential, even to a poet or a painter or a novelist. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Robert Silverberg, There was an old woman— (1958)

“ I can't paint and I know I can't paint. I've got nothing but starvation ahead of me unless I wise up and get into business in a hurry. You want me to keep messing up good white canvas the rest of my life? ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Robert Silverberg, There was an old woman— (1958)

“ She may last another twenty or thirty or even forty years."
"And we're past twenty-one already," remarked Raymond. "If we hang on too long at what we're doing, it'll be too late to change. You can't start studying for a new profession when you're thirty-five." ”

Robert Silverberg

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Quotes from There was an old woman— (Robert Silverberg)

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