Black and White

Author's Note: This essay is written to show my understanding of text analysis. Make sure to pay attention to my introduction. 

‘“After you, my dear Alphonse,”  “No, after you, my dear Alphonse,”’ equal outlooks on race are obviously shown through the this text by the two little boys in the story “After you my dear Alphonse,” by Shirley Jackson. Showing that without a influence by a parent, teacher, or towns people children don’t notice the difference between black or white. How a child often shows more respect or gratitude than an adult of more than twice his age is shown very much in this piece. 

In the story "After You, My Dear Alphonse", Mrs. Wilson is a very judgmental person, she makes a lot of assumptions that are not true. Just saying these few words gave me an idea that she is an example of reverse racism; meaning she doesn't try to be racist but it comes out sounding that way. "Boyd, Johnny has some suits that are a little too small for him, and a winter coat." Mrs. Wilson wasn't trying to entail that but ended up sounding like that. 

In another line Mrs. Wilson was trying to force Boyd to eat stewed tomatoes because she thinks that he is so poor that he will eat anything that he can get. To me it sounds like she is trying to help him but yet she is saying it in a not so nice way. Reverse racism doesn't just happen in stories or novels, it happens here in Pewaukee, it happens in Waukesha, it happens everywhere in the world. 

There are many times in the story that Mrs. Wilson sounds rude. In this line: "And he certainly has to be strong to do that -- all that lifting and carrying at a factory." Mrs. Wilson is implying that Boyd's father is a poor man who has to work in a small factory and make very little money. It was only till Johnny said "Boyd's father doesn't have to, he's a foreman." that Mrs. Wilson thought she knew everything about Boyd and his family.  

The short story, "After You My Dear Alphonse," children seem to show more respect and make less assumptions than the adults do. There are many lessons that can be learned from this story. Overall I think that the main lesson here is to try to teach not only kids but also adults to not judge other people by what they look like. You always want to get to know someone before you give them a "name."