Shirley Ann Grau is no stranger to controversial topics. Born and raised in the South, residing in New Orleans, she was quite aware of the racial issues swarming during the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, especially below the Mason Dixon line. While her novels were primarily told though and about white Southerners of both rural and wealthy backgrounds, her short stories cross color lines into a realm few white writers have dared venture. Though a Pulitzer Prize winner, her stories have not been widely reviewed due to her relative anonymity, and Grau continues to elude her readers because, as Rohrberger notes, “for we have consistently failed to understand the complexity of her statements and the excellence of her forms (Rohrberger,1).” Despite this low-key success, Grau has received much attention and praise for her works of short fiction. Considering the time and place in which this white Southern, woman writer wrote her short stories, Shirley Ann Grau displayed great subtlety and tenacity in her ability to write through the point-of-view of both black and white characters.
Although she has written a great deal throughout her career, one can appreciate the range of her use of black and white points of view by comparing two collections of short stories spanning a thirty year divide: The Black Prince and Other Stories (1955) and Nine Women (1985). Through a critical analysis of these bold works, Grau's readers will find she has many thoughtful insights of the perspectives and perceptions of black and white culture.
There are five stories out of nine in The Black Prince and Other Stories that are told through the eyes of black characters. “White Girl, Fine Girl” is a story following the return of Jayson Paul Evans who has just been released from prison. Upon his arrival back into society, he sets out to find his ex-wife, Aggie, the reason he entered prison in the first place. Though it is not clear what he seeks in Aggie, she and her daughters (only one of which is Jayson's) do not allow him near her. After some effort, he settles for a prostitute who looks like the “Jax Poster” girl who is “white or nearly white.” This is the only instance in the story in which the reader can clearly detect the main character's race; it is in the way they talk about the girl's color, as if being “nearly white” was exotic.
In Nine Women, Grau employs a similar technique in letting on the race of the main character in “The Beginning.” The story follows a short period of time in the life of a young girl, whose mother treats her like “the jewel of the lotus, the pearl without price, [her] secret treasure (Nine Women, 5).” The story generally lacks a plot, but is rather just a memoir of a young girl whose mother enjoys “dolling” her up in fine, girly clothes, despite being the bane of the nuns in her school. Considering the fine clothing she describes, we only find out at the end that she is a young, black girl. Grau clearly concealed this information in hopes that we would assume she was white, given the character's refined nature.
Some stories, on the other hand, are not so elusive. The story “The Black Prince,” appearing in its self-titled collection, follows the progression of the relationship between Alberta Lacy and Stanley Albert Thompson. The reader is made aware of their race within the first couple of pages: “She was a handsome girl, taller than most people in her part of the country, and light brown—there had been a lot of white blood in her family...(The Black Prince and Other stories, 40).”
Yet, few of Grau's short stories actually deal with the issue of race, save “Miss Yellow Eyes,” which also appears in The Black Prince and Other Stories. This story is told through Celia, a young black girl in early adolescence with her mother, brother, and sister. Her sister, Lena, is much sought after by boys in school, but shows no interest in them until meeting her brother Pete's friend, Chris. As Chris is drafted into Vietnam to undoubtedly take the front lines because of his skin color, he heroically accepts his call to action. Moreover, he promises Lena he will return for her soon, upon which they will move to Oregon where they can “cross over” the color line. Pete, on the other hand, takes an entirely different view of the situation, as he ardently maintains that blacks are sent to war only to die for white men, and he resents Chris for his desire to be white. Saving himself from what he feels is inevitable death, Pete tries to cut off his finger to avoid the draft, but instead accidentally takes off his entire hand. He is extremely bitter over this result, and over Chris. Unfortunately, Pete's predictions are met. Chris is in fact killed in war. Upon the news of his death, the entire family is broken apart, except Pete, who can only say (and rather hysterically), “Even if you black, you good enough to get sent off to die...Chris, you a man, sure... sure... you sure cross over... (The Black Prince and Other stories, 113).”
There are two remaining stories told specifically through black characters in The Black Prince and Other Stories: “Joshua” and “The Way of a Man.” Both are sort of “coming-of-age” stories in which the two main characters, who are poor and uneducated black boys, realize what it truly means to be a man. In “The Way of a Man,” William matures into “a life of crime and debt” after being practically abandoned, emotionally and financially, by his parents (Rohrberger,1). At the end of the story, William is broke, headed to New Orleans on the run from the law. He justifies many of his poor judgments, citing what “a man's” got to do. On the other hand, Joshua is a bit younger, yet lives a relatively crime-free life. He matures on his own and becomes quite responsible for himself (much unlike his counterpart, William). Interestingly, the “initiation” of William and Joshua ensue upon their discovery of the dead, white corpses. These complete the “roster” of stories about blacks.
The story “Ending” in Nine Women takes a far less direct approach to race. The story profiles a crisis of relationships in the family of Barbara Eagleton. Upon her daughter's wedding day, Barbara and her husband decide to get a divorce. This story is not nearly as colloquial in diction as the other stories about black characters in The Black Prince and Other Stories; one is only really led to recognize the race of the characters when Barbara is cited as looking “so much like Diana Ross (Nine Women, 107).” In this story, it seems Grau is demonstrating that it is not necessary to make the story about race, even if her characters are black.
These stories have been received in many ways. Yet it is safe to say that almost every one of Grau's reviewers were often primarily interested in the way she wrote in a point of view of blacks, which was thought to be so unlike her own, being a white, Southern woman. Her ability to narrate through a situation in which she can never fully realize is indeed intriguing. For Grau, it is about the distinction between “the direct and the subtle (Rohrberger,1).” While some stories are quite cleary issues of race, others are far less clear and easy to decipher, thus pulling out distinct racial boundaries.
Not everyone is entirely convinced by her boldness in her depiction of black characters: “But, on the other hand, her southern upbringing has imposed certain limitations on her ability to endow her Negro characters with reality. Although she tries hard to enter into the minds of her Negro characters, she fails miserably (Ford, 206).” As this review was written shortly after the publication of The Black Prince and Other Stories, it seems her unique topic did not resound with everyone, as it seems to now. On the other hand, Shirley Ann Grau's own literary biographer Paul Schleuter felt differently on her ability to portray black character: “In general, the stories in this collection that are concerned with blacks are more effective than those concerned with white; the former seem imbued with a sense of mystery, with echoes of folklore and myth often emphasized (Schleuter, 107).” Schleuter feels that she handles the dialect of the rural black culture well while maintaining a very objective and indifferent point of view.
Both books contain stories of both black and white characters, though it is sometimes not certain until the end. Yet there is a clear distinction between the two collections. While many selections in The Black Prince and Other Stories are quite blatantly about black culture in the rural South, there is clearly dwindling interest in the subject by the time Nine Women is published. What may bring about this change in focus? There is no secure answer, yet it still important to note the time period in which she chose to address the topic initially. The 1950s fostered the onset of the Civil Rights Movement, and Shirley Ann Grau was no doubt a part of that.
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