Analyis of the "The Son In The Afternoon," by John A. Williams

Essay by wildman099College, UndergraduateA+, April 2004

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"The Son In The Afternoon," by John A. Williams is a story about a black man's jealously of a white boy. In the story Wendell is a black man. He has a job as a scripted writer. After work he goes to pick up his mother, who is watching a young white boy, named Ronnie. Wendell turns to be very jealous of the boy, because he believes that his mother gives the boy more attention than she gave himself. In spite of this, Wendell hugs the boy's mother in front of the boy. This ultimately turns that young boy against his mother. Williams's story reveals how jealousy can make adults childish and immature.

In the story the main character is Wendell who is very jealous of Ronnie. During the story Wendell is a very jealous and bitter character. He says, "We never had the physical attention, all of this Ronnie was getting."

He also says, "When Ronnie was in the hospital the month before, Nora got me to run her way over to Hollywood every night to see him. I didn't like that worth a damn." These statements show how incredibly jealous Wendell is. This jealousy leads him to act very immature towards that young boy.

The central conflict of the story is external between Wendell and the young white boy. Wendell is jealous of Ronnie, because he fells that his mother spends more time with Ronnie than she had ever spent with him. Wendell says, " Ronnie only had my mother. But somehow when six of us, her own children, were growing up we never had her." This shows how Wendell fells upset that the boy get more attention from Wendell's mother more than Wendell did. For this reason, Wendell hugs the boys mother to make the boy fell...