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

  Themes and important elements ·        Indian tradition ·        Looking toward the past ·        Food preparation rituals ·        American-Indian interactions ·        Child-adult interactions ·        Eliot understands Mrs. Sen and his mother does not ·        Unhappiness in the US ·        Apparent coldness of Indian relationships ·        Happiness dependent on homelike things ·        The helplessness of children ·        The perceptiveness of children ·        Responsibility Style and devices ·        Third person limited narrator ·        Eliot is the focalizer Keywords ·        Campus ·        Blade ·        Fish ·        Ocean ·        Beach house ·        Vegetable names ·        Car, driving ·        Bus People and places ·        Mrs. Sen ·        Mr. Sen ·        Eliot ·        Abby ·        Mrs. Linden ·        India Jhumpa Lahiri

It is September. Eliot, eleven years old, is used to having adults look after him after school. This year he goes to Mrs. Sen's after school, because she cannot drive and watch him at his own house. During the first meeting between Eliot, his mother and the Sens, Mrs. Sen introduces herself and her husband, who teaches mathematics at the university. Their apartment seems like a transient residence, with plastic covering the some of the furniture. Eliot's mother asks the Sens questions. She is concerned with Mrs. Sen's inability to drive, and Mr. Sen predicts that she will have a license in December. Eliot rather enjoys Mrs. Sen's. Her apartment was warmer than his house. He learn to remove his shoes upon entering the apartment. He enjoys watching her prepare food, with special dishes and particular vegetables. She tells Eliot about Indian traditions. She feels isolated at home, compared to home, India, where the entire neighborhood was in tune to each other'

Themes and prominent elements ·        Jewish girl participating in Christian activities ·        Cultural immersion ·        Excessive, childish praising of god ·        Family disagreements over acculturation ·        Spunky little girl Style and devices ·        humor "In that case, don't be silly; I might very well be your teacher someday. Speak up, speak up."           "Yes," I shouted. "More like it," he said. "Now, Shirley, can you put a ribbon in your hair or a bobby pin? It's too messy."   "Yes!" I bawled." People and places ·        Mrs. Abramowitz ·        Mr. Bialik ·        Coney Island ·        Shirley ·        Mr. Hilton ·        Mrs. Jordan ·        Misha ·        Cramer ·        Miss Glace ·        Clara ·        Mr. Sauerfeld ·        Mrs. Kleig ·        Ira Pushkov ·        Jackie Saurfield ·        More kids' names Grace Paley

Shirley's is a very noisy neighborhood. Of all of the noisy elements there, her voice is the loudest, she says, and proudly. Her father too is loud. Her mother on the other hand is desperate for quiet. One morning, Shirley is called in to Mr. Hilton's classroom. He offers her the part of narrator of the school play, due to her extremely loud voice. Shirley accepts. The children take off thanksgiving decorations and put up Christmas ones. They learn carols. Her mother is indignant at all of the Christmas activities in which her Jewish neighbors are participating and about the immersion of her daughter in Christian culture. Her father disagrees, saying it's better than the tyrannical alternatives of other countries. Some parents brag about their children's parts in the play and some parents forbid their children to participate. In the meantime, Shirley is having a blast at the play. She is Mr. Hilton's assistant, shouting at children when Mr. Hilton is we

Themes ·        Storytelling ·        Linear traditional stories vs. non-traditional stories ·        Conservative themes vs unorthodox themes ·        Generation gap ·        Metaliterature ·        Story within story Style and devices ·        Humor ·        Story within story ·        Dialogue Keywords ·        Story ·        Tragedy ·        Junkie People and places ·        de Maupassant ·        Chekhov ·        Manhattan ·        Turgenev ·        Lower Manhattan ·        Coleridge ·        Leary ·        Antonioni ·        East Village Grace Paley

The narrator's father is sick. He asks his daughter to write him a simple story like Maupassant or Checkhov, with a linear plot. She doesn't like to but tries in order to please him. She writes a story, based in reality, about a young man who becomes a junkie and his mother who becomes a junkie to keep him company. After a while the boy is disgusted and leaves. The story is short and without details. Her father asks for more details. He is not happy with the story. He is upset that the woman in her story has a child out of wedlock. They discuss storytelling technique and what the author does when she has difficulty inventing an end for her stories. The author tries again. She injects more details into the story, more psychology and humor and causal connections. The mother in the story joins her son because she prefers to be with the young generation than her own. She ends her story with the son moving out, sober and the mother alone and unable to overcome the addiction