ESSAY CEMETERY

Themes ·        The generation gap ·        Children criticizing parents ·        Mother's love for children ·        Mother being hurt by children ·        Mother spiting the children Style and devices ·        humor “so I deal in straight-up fiction myself, cause I value my family and friends, and mostly cause I lie a lot anyway.” ·        First person narrator ·        Very black dialect-y Keywords ·        Drums ·        Nice ·        Fixing stuff People and places ·        Bovanne ·        Joe Lee ·        Sister Taylor ·        Task ·        Elo ·        Tamu ·        Nisi ·        Norton ·        Reverend Trent ·        Miss Hazel Toni Cade Bambara

  Preface When she writes "autobiographical fiction", Toni's family and friends get angry about the past or their characters, so she just sticks to plain fiction. The Story The narrator is at a benefit for a family member who is running for a political position with the black party. She is dancing with Bovanne a nice old man who is blind. He does handy work around the neighborhood. They dance close but it's not sexual. Joe Lee, her son, tells her off for dancing so close. Her daughter, Elo, too tells them off but she ignores her for the benefit of harmless, kind Bovanne. Her youngest son Task pulls her into the kitchen. In her defense she mumbles something about drums. They berate her for dancing like "a bitch in heat" or "a sex-starved" woman. She is on the verge of tears. She asks whether this is the "generation gap", and Elo denies that this exists in Blacks. She feels as though she is being interrogated. They criticiz