My Dear Alphonse

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“After You, My Dear Alphonse” analysis “After You, My Dear Alphonse” is a short-story from 1984 by the writer Shirley Jackson. It takes place in what appears to be a small town, in what I only can imagine is England (judging from the character’s names, the lunch served (scrambled eggs, gingerbread) and the writer’s own background. The story is about the two young boys Johnny and Boyd coming in from their playtime to eat at Johnny’s house. Johnny’s mother, Mrs. Wilson, is the one who has cooked and prepared it all. Mrs. Wilson quickly notices Boyd’s (negro) appearance, and starts acting all weird due to this, asking him questions about his family’s labor and level of poverty, and generally insinuates that because of his black heritage, that…show more content…
The racism back then, did, however, not result in outright violence and murder, but prejudices, prejudgments and bigotries. This can be equally harmful (not quite so in the literal sense though) for small town communities. Mrs. Wilson represents the bigotry, and although she tries to make herself look as if she is only helping the “poor, black” child by sticking out a generous hand to the needy, her prejudiceness shines through. You only have to look at her assumption that because Boyd’s black father works in a factory, naturally (as is the law of the poor blacks) he must be a manual laborer and not, as he turns out to be, a foreman or otherwise a figure of authority. She also assumes that Boyd’s mother, naturally, must have a job and can’t just stay home tending the children and the house, as Boyd’s family (as any black family) is poor and poorly educated, and thus needs the extra income. Boyd’s mother turns out to be exactly that however, just like Mrs. Wilson herself. Boyd even rejects her “generous” gift consisting of secondhand items and clothes, puzzled, saying he has more than enough clothing already. Embittered by this black family’s seemingly fair and healthy living standards (perhaps, dare I say it, better than Mrs. Wilson’s own?), Mrs. Wilsons grab the gingerbread just before Boyd could grab another piece and sends the two of them out once again. There’s even more examples of this in the
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