SUMMARY: “A VISIT OF CHARITY”

“A Visit of Charity” is a short story written

by Eudora Welty, the first living writer
published in the Library of America series.
“A Visit of Charity” is one of 17 short
stories in Welty’s collection A Curtain of
Green, published in 1941 by Doubleday.
The main character, Marian, a 14-year-old Campfire
Girl, decides to visit an “Old Ladies’ Home” to earn
points for her merit badges. Wearing a white cap, she
pauses when she spots “prickly dark shrubs” (137)
surrounding the home. Built of whitewashed brick, the
building looks as though it is a block of ice in the
winter sunlight. Once inside, Marian is greeted by a
nurse in a white uniform.
Marian announces that she is there to pay a visit
to an old lady. The nurse asks Marian if she
knows any of the residents. Marian tells her she
does not know anyone living in the home but
says “any of them will do” (137).
As the nurse leads her down a hallway, Marian
carries a potted plant she has brought. Behind one of
the doors, she hears a woman clearing her throat,
like the bleating of a sheep. Marian wants to run
when she hears the sound but she’s drawn into the
room by the nurse. Once inside she meets two older
ladies. One is bedridden (Addie). The other,
unnamed, has a “terrible, square smile (which was a
smile of welcome) stamped on her bony face” (138).
The unnamed woman pulls the cap off
Marian’s head as the nurse leaves.
Everything in the room feels damp, and
Marian’s hands begin to feel cold. The
window shades are drawn, and Marian feels
as if she is caught in the cave of a robber
“just before one was murdered” (138).
The unnamed woman asks Marian if she
has come to be their little girl for a while.
She then snatches the plant out of
Marian’s hands. The two women begin
arguing about whether the plant is pretty.
The standing woman asks Marian who
she is, and Marian can’t remember her
own name. She tells them she is a
Campfire Girl.
They tell her another Campfire Girl visited
them a month ago and read to them out of a
Bible. The women begin arguing again, this
time about whether they enjoyed the other
Campfire Girl reading to them. Marian says,
“We all enjoyed it” (139) without realizing
she has spoken.
Marian says she can’t stay. The unnamed woman
sits in a rocking chair and says Addie is sick.
Addie denies it and tells the woman in the rocker
she doesn’t know anything. The women continue
to bicker, and Marian starts trembling. The
woman in the rocker says it is Addie’s birthday,
which Addie denies. Marian becomes interested
in Addie and asks how old she is.
She sees Addie very clearly for the first time
and, as she wonders about her, she realizes this is
the first time she has been curious about another
person. Addie begins whimpering and, to
Marian, she no longer sounds like a sheep but a
little lamb. She tells the woman in the rocker
that Addie’s crying, but the woman dismisses it,
saying, “That’s Addie for you” (142).
Marian moves toward the door, but the
woman grabs her, asking for money.
Marian wrenches free from her hands.
She bolts down the hallway, finding the
nurse reading Field & Stream at her
desk.
The nurse invites her to stay for dinner,
but Marian runs out of the building. As
she leaves, she bends down to grab a red
apple she had hidden under one of the
shrubs in front of the building. She hails a
bus, climbs aboard, and takes a bite out of
the apple.