The idea to read this story first came as I was (currently am) reading “New Boy” by Tracy Chevalier. This story is mentioned in passing in the book with reference to racial discrimination as this is what the story is about.
It is not a very long story and yet Shirley Jackson packs in every punch there is. It is about two boys, one white and the other black, their friendship and how the world of adults influences these kids and yet doesn’t taint what is between them. Contradictory? Yes, perhaps. But you can only make sense of it when you read the story.
I had always associated Jackson with speculative fiction writing, but the more I think about her longer works (The Haunting of Hill House, We Have Always Lived in the Castle), the more sense do other layers make. She drops them as she goes along, like breadcrumbs for the readers to make sense of.
“After you, My Dear Alphonse” is a story that will make you see that nothing really has changed when it comes to discrimination between races. It has always been there.
You can read the story here:
http://www.sphstigers.org/ourpages/users/jasher/SSBootCampWebsite/AfterYouAlphonse.pdf
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