Critical Source:
- Ostrom, Hans. Langston Hughes: A Study of the Short Fiction. Boston: Twayne, 1993.
Discussion starters
- Ostram reports that this story was written after Hughes had read and liked some of D. H. Lawrence's fiction. Do you find any similarities.
- How does Hughes's choice of narrator influence our understanding of the events in the story?
- Though Hughes tries to be tactful as well as truthful, do you find the implied abortion and subsequent death of Jessie adequately portrayed?