The Black American Short Story in the 20th Century

by Peter Bruck

  omy tha t th e violenc e wit h whic h i t climaxe s seem s s o chilling .

  Indeed, w e experienc e tha t momen t a s th e bo y experience s it ,

  even thoug h w e ma y evaluat e i t differently . Ther e is , throughou t

  the story , tha t sens e o f craf t t o whic h Kelle y dedicate d himsel f a t

  the beginnin g o f hi s career , an d whic h wa s uppermost i n his min d

  when h e mad e th e decisio n t o dedicat e Dancers on the Shore t o

  his grandmother , Jessi e Garcia , wh o fo r sevent y year s ha d mad e

  her livin g a s a seamstress . Reflectin g o n tha t dedication , h e foun d

  it necessar y t o prefac e th e collectio n b y introducin g he r an d

  describing a n even t tha t occure d fou r year s befor e th e boo k wa s

  published:

  At that time , I had just decided I would try to write. Since most everyone

  I knew had expected me to choose a more secure and respectable occupa-

  tion, and since the desire to write was really a vague undergraduate yearn-

  ing, I felt called upon to give some explanation to someone. I also felt that

  if m y grandmother , wh o wa s the only family I had, understood, I could

  stand u p to the others when they asked me why I did not have a decent

  job.

  As I sat talkin g t o her , I began to feel sure the sixty years separating us

  would be too much, that I would not be able to explain to her the feeling

  writing gave me.

  For a half hour, she sat sewing and listening. For a half hour I gave reasons,

  explanations an d examples , and finall y whe n I slumped back, exhausted

  and discouraged, it seemed to me I had made no sense at all.

  For a moment sh e looked at me, making certain I had finished. Then she

  smiled: " I know . I couldn't have made dresses for sevent y years unless I

  loved it."9

  That sens e o f vocatio n whic h h e share d wit h a n ancien t grand -

  mother inform s al l o f Kelley' s writings , eve n th e late r work s i n

  which hi s treatmen t o f th e racia l situatio n i n th e Unite d State s

  becomes mor e conflicte d an d unsettling . I n it s wonderfu l econ -

  omies, it s technica l precision , "Th e Poke r Party " ca n stan d a s

  fitting tribut e t o th e writer' s craft . I t sound s n o monumenta l

  themes an d issue s no shout o f protest o r reform, bu t i t play s a sen-

  sitive, memorabl e variatio n o n on e o f th e most endurin g motifs i n

  literature — a child' s bruisin g confrontatio n wit h th e vagarie s and

  aggressions of th e adul t world .

  139

  NOTES

  1. Willia m Melvi n Kelley , "Preface, " Dancers on the Shore (New York ,

  1964).

  2. Kelley' s epigraph is taken from the "Conclusion" (Chapter 18) of Thoreau's

  Walden.

  3. Willia m Melvin Kelley, A Drop of Patience (New York, 1965), p. 14.

  4. Willia m Melvin Kelley, Dunfords Travels Every wheres (New York, 1970),

  p.61.

  5. Se e William Shakespeare, Othello, IV, ii.

  6. Fo r th e ful l contex t o f Kelley' s epigraph , see Joseph Conrad, Heart of

  Darkness (London, 1961), pp. 104-105.

  7. Kelley , "Th e Poke r Party," Dancers on the Shore, p. 23. Page numbers

  in parenthesis refe r t o the Doubleday editio n of 1964 . "The Poker Party" is

  widely anthologized. It was reprinted, among others, in Willia m Adams, et al.

  edd., Afro-American Literature: Fiction (Boston, 1970) ; Woodie King, ed.,

  Black Short Story Anthology (New York, 1972); Arnold Adoff, ed., Brothers

  and Sisters: Modern Stories by Black Americans (New York, 1975).

  8. Willia m Melvin Kelley, "Enemy Territory," Dancers on the Shore, p. 15.

  9. Willia m Melvin Kelley, "Dedication," Dancers on the Shore.

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  Kelley is the author of the following novels:

  A Different Drummer. New York, 1963.

  A Drop of Patience. Ne w York, 1965.

  dem. New York, 1967.

  Dunfords Travels Everywheres. New York, 1970.

  Selected secondary sources:

  David Galloway , "Version s o f Dissent : Joh n A . Williams ' Sissie and

  William Melvi n Kelley' s A Different Drummer," Critique, 6 (Winter,

  1963), 150-156.

  Phylis R . Klotman , "A n Examinatio n o f th e Blac k Confidence Ma n in

  two Blac k Novels : The Man Who Cried I Am an d dem," American

  Literature, 44 (1972-3), 596-611.

  Klotman, "Th e Passive Resistan t i n A Different Drummer, Day of Ab-

  sence, and Many Thousand Gone," Studies in Black Literature, 3

  (1971), 7-12.

  Robert L . Nadeau, "Black Jesus: A Study of Kelley's A Different Drum-

  mer" Studies in Black Literature, 2 (1970), 13-15.

  140

  Peter Freese

  JOHN A. WILLIAMS

  SON IN THE AFTERNOON

  (1962)

  The mos t importan t thin g is the message. I

  would like to feel that the better the craft, the

  smoother th e messag e comes out. A clums y

  vehicle delivers a clumsy message. A smooth

  vehicle delivers a clear message.

  John A. Williams in an interview.

  John Alfre d Williams , born i n 192 5 in Jackson, Mississippi, and at

  present Professo r o f English at the City University of New York, is

  one o f th e leadin g black writer s in contemporar y America . Eigh t

  novels, among whic h The Man Who Cried I Am (1967 ) is perhaps

  the mos t important , an d si x nonfictio n book s hav e helpe d hi m

  finally t o gai n th e recognitio n which , durin g th e earl y stage s of

  his career , wa s s o long denied t o him . When, after thre e year s in

  the Nav y an d hi s studies a t Syracus e Universit y which he finishe d

  in 195 1 wit h a Bachelor' s degre e i n Journalis m an d English , h e

  embarked o n hi s writing career , h e ha d to earn his living by work-

  ing at a number o f odd jobs, and he could not find a publisher fo r

  his firs t novel , complete d a s One for New York i n 1955 , until i t

  was finally publishe d a s The Angry Ones in 1960 . During the sum-

  mer o f 195 4 William s an d hi s wif e separate d an d h e wen t t o

  California wher e h e spen t a ver y unhapp y yea r i n Lo s Angeles .

  He used th e experienc e h e gained ther e i n some of his novels and,

  together wit h hi s continuin g concer n fo r th e pligh t o f th e blac k

  family i n a racist society, it certainly forms the background of one

  of th e occasiona l shor t storie s h e wrot e durin g thi s time . Thi s

  story i s entitled "So n i n th e Afternoon " ("SiA" ) an d it s publish -

  ing history provides a characteristic example of the many obstacles

  an unknow n blac k write r ha d t o fac e in those years. Williams sent

  this stor y t o severa l magazines , amon g the m Playboy an d The

  Atlantic Monthly, bu t i t wa s constantl y rejected , no t becaus e i t

  was considere d a ba d stor y bu t because , fo r reason s stemmin g

  from th e ver y racia l discriminatio n whic h th e stor y attacked , th e

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  editors though t i t inopportun e t o publis h it . Phoeb e Adam s o f

  The Atlantic, fo r example , wrote i n a letter o f January 30, 1958:

  "The So n stor y i s n o g o unless run wit h a picture o f th e autho r

  who, believ e me , ha d dam n wel l bette r b e b
lac k a s th e ac e o f

  spades. Since we can't manage that setup, there's no hope here ..."1

  When, in 1962 , Williams edited a n antholog y o f texts meant to

  portray th e blac k man' s reality in America which was entitled The

  Angry Black, h e state d i n hi s introduction tha t "i t i s most impe -

  rative tha t th e Negr o be seen and seen as he is; the morality of the

  situation wil l the n resolv e itself , an d truth , whic h i s what w e all

  presumably ar e after , wil l the n b e served," 2 an d h e seize d th e

  long-awaited opportunit y b y puttin g "SiA " a s his own contribu -

  tion int o thi s collection . Fou r years later, however, when Williams

  reissued hi s anthology, wit h ne w material an d unde r the new title

  Beyond the Angry Black, he no longer retained "SiA " but replaced

  it b y another story, described as a chapter from a novel in progress

  and entitle d "Nav y Black. " Th e reaso n fo r suc h a n exchang e

  remains ope n t o conjecture . Perhap s Williams, who ha d mad e us e

  of som e of th e story' s problems in his first thre e novel s — several

  passages from th e story reappear almost verbatim in Sissie (1963)3

  — thought tha t th e stor y ha d nothin g ne w t o tel l an y more .

  Perhaps, havin g progresse d a s a writer b y thi s time , he no longe r

  deemed i t goo d enoug h t o b e republished . I f th e latte r wa s the

  case, h e wa s certainl y mor e sever e i n hi s judgemen t tha n th e

  majority o f present-da y editors , for nowaday s "SiA" is one of the

  stories mos t frequentl y anthologize d i n collection s o f blac k

  literature.4

  "SiA" i s a stor y abou t a blac k man' s amorou s encounter wit h a

  white woma n an d thu s touche s o n th e highl y charge d subjec t o f

  interracial sex ; it is a story about a black man's confrontation wit h

  the whit e woma n fo r who m hi s mother work s as a maid and thus

  conjures u p th e traditiona l topi c o f master-servan t relation s

  between white s an d blacks ; it i s a story abou t th e psychica l con -

  sequences o f a blac k youth' s deficien t socializatio n an d thu s has

  to d o with the manifold problem s of growing up black in America;

  it i s a stor y abou t a youn g black' s emancipatio n fro m th e lo w

  status bequeathe d t o hi m a t birt h an d thu s refer s t o th e socia l

  142

  obstacles an d th e pric e t o b e paid fo r black self-realization; and it

  is a story abou t a black man' s sudde n los s of self-contro l an d hi s

  irresponsible attemp t t o reveng e himself upo n a n innocent whit e

  child an d thu s deal s wit h th e havo c wrough t upo n th e huma n

  mind by the poison of racism.

  The small-scal e actio n which , i n a seemingl y effortles s way ,

  combines al l these aspect s an d fuse s the m int o a n excitin g plot is

  easily retold . Wendell , a successfu l youn g writer who works for a

  Hollywood fil m compan y drive s t o Sant a Monic a t o pic k up hi s

  mother Nor a wh o work s a s a maid fo r th e well-to-d o Couchma n

  family. I n thei r luxuriou s villa Wendell has to wai t becaus e Nor a

  cannot leav e littl e Ronnie , th e Couchmans ' spoile d nine-year-ol d

  son, befor e Kay , hi s mother , ha s com e home . Wendell is deeply

  annoyed b y Ronnie' s brattis h behaviou r an d b y th e though t tha t

  his mother , wh o ha d n o tim e fo r hi m whe n h e neede d he r a s a

  child, lovingl y pamper s th e whit e boy . Whe n Kay , " a playgirl "

  (231),5 appear s i n a rathe r intoxicate d stat e an d begin s a con -

  descending flirtatio n wit h her maid's son, Wendell cunningly seizes

  the opportunit y i n orde r t o reveng e himsel f upo n Ronni e b y

  making him see his mother in the arms of a black stranger:

  I ha d th e scene laid right out. The kid breaks into the room, see, and

  sees his mother in this real wriggly clinch with this colored guy who's just

  shouted at him, see, and no matter how his mother explains it away, the

  kid has the image - th e colored guy and his mother - fo r the rest of his

  life, see? (236)

  Wendell succeed s an d whe n he leave s with hi s mother h e has th e

  dubious satisfactio n o f seein g that Ronni e slaps his mother's hand

  away when she reaches for him.

  Such a brie f summar y o f th e story' s actio n mus t creat e th e

  impression tha t "SiA " is a rather contrive d story . I t is , in a way,

  but th e ide a o f th e perfec t reveng e which it presents is so skilfully

  translated int o believabl e an d well-motivate d individua l behaviour

  that i t i s onl y o n secon d thought s tha t th e reade r detect s th e

  thoroughly planne d an d almos t schemati c arrangemen t o f th e

  story behin d it s seemingly spontaneous , fast-moving , an d exciting

  action. Thi s i s mostl y du e t o Williams ' centra l artisti c achieve -

  ment, namely the choice and faultless realization of an appropriate

  narrative perspective . I t i s especially hi s masterly renderin g of the

  point of view of the I as protagonist which turns "SiA" into a little

  143

  gem o f narrative art , and thu s it woul d see m appropriat e t o star t

  an analysi s o f th e stor y wit h a consideration o f it s technique o f

  presentation.

  *

  "SiA" is narrated b y Wendell , the story' s protagonist , who imme-

  diately introduce s himsel f a s "I." The effect o f immediacy charac-

  teristic o f thi s focu s o f narratio n i s greatl y enhance d b y th e

  strategy o f direc t address , for when Wendell follows his "I tend t o

  be ... " wit h a "...you see " (230) , h e doe s no t onl y creat e th e

  illusion o f turnin g th e reader of the written word into a listener to

  the spoke n word , bu t h e also , right fro m th e start , establishe s

  rapport betwee n narrato r an d reader , admit s th e reade r int o hi s

  confidence an d thus creates a close and intimate contact with him.

  A plea like "Anywa y .. . he?r m e ou t now " (230) , a question like

  "Can yo u imagine? " (234) , an d th e frequen t "see " (cf . "I' m a

  Negro writer , yo u see " [230] ; "S o yo u se e ... " [231] ; "The ki d

  breaks int o th e room , see " [236] ; o r ".. . fo r th e res t o f hi s life ,

  see?" [236] ) cal l fo r the reader's attention and sympathy, whereas

  statements lik e ".. . yo u kno w wha t happened " (232 ) tacitl y

  presume tha t narrato r an d reade r understand each other and share

  common way s o f behaviour . Th e reade r wh o is thus deprive d o f

  his distanc e an d almos t turne d int o th e narrator-protagonist' s

  accomplice, is exposed to another, subliminal effect o f this kind of

  narration, tha t is , it s suppose d veracity . No t content , however ,

  with th e effec t o f verification implici t in the basic formula 'a s I'm

  telling yo u abou t wha t ha s happene d t o m e personally , I mus t

  know wha t I' m talkin g about, ' Wendel l greatl y intensifie s i t b y

  means of hi s extreme outspokenness, his remarkable honesty , an d

  the fac t tha t h e doe s not a t al l spare himself. A man wh o is not

  ashamed o f confessin g tha t h e "tend[s ] t o b e a bitc h whe n it' s

  hot" (230) , who admit s tha t h
e has " a nast y temper" (233), who

  comments upon somebody's sexual incontinence by saying that he

  has "bee n tha t wa y too , mostl y i n th e spring " (232) , an d wh o

  acknowledges tha t h e wa s "too angry to feel hatred for [him]self '

  (233), canno t bu t impres s th e reade r a s bein g absolutely hones t

  and thu s turns , i n Wayn e C . Booth' s category , int o a totall y

  'reliable' narrator. A third characteristi c o f thi s kind of narration,

  termed 'mediation ' b y Fran z K . Stanzel, lies in the essential effec t

  144

  that no t th e actio n a s suc h i s importan t bu t th e effec t o f thi s

  action upo n th e narrator, and that the narrator-protagonist canno t

  mention a singl e detai l without , a t leas t b y hi s choice o f words ,

  betraying its effect upo n himself. Thus such seemingly insignificant

  details as Wendell's plan to "listen to some of the white boys play"

  (231) o r hi s commen t " I though t i f I kne w Couchma n I' d lik e

  him" (232 ) gain importance becaus e they show that Wendell is no

  fanatic, n o indiscriminate hate r o f white s — a fact tha t make s his

  behaviour a t th e Couchmans ' al l th e mor e telling . Th e narrativ e

  distance, tha t is , the distanc e i n tim e betwee n Wendel l as protag-

  onist an d Wendel l a s narrator , i s hinted a t righ t a t th e beginnin g

  — " I wa s [at th e tim e whe n thi s happened] — stil l am [now when

  I tel l yo u abou t it ] — a writer..."(230)— bu t canno t b e exactl y

  defined. With the single exception of one statement which indicates

  that a s narrator Wendel l has gained a n insight he was incapable of

  as participan t an d whic h wil l b e discusse d below , however , on e

  gets th e impressio n tha t Wendel l ha s no t ye t gaine d sufficien t

  distance fro m hi s experienc e an d tha t h e tell s his story a s if still

  under the immediate impression of what had happened.

  The combine d effect s o f directnes s an d immediacy , reliabilit y

  and 'mediation, ' create d b y th e brilliantl y realize d poin t o f view

  are, of course , corroborated by Wendell's language. This unmistak-

  able idiom , wit h it s mixtur e o f self-assertion , aggressiveness , and

  amused mockery , wit h it s relaxed colloquial rhythms, and with its

  apt imagery , plays an important par t fo r th e overal l effec t o f th e