American History (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Judith Ortiz
- First Published: 1993
- Type of Plot: Coming of age
- Time of Work: 1963
- Setting: Paterson, New Jersey
- Principal Characters: Skinny Bones, Eugene, Skinny Bones's mother, Eugene's mother
- Genres: Social realism, Short fiction
- Subjects: African Americans, Racism, Teenagers, Love or romance, Race, Inner cities or inner-city life, Women’s issues, Acculturation, Assassination, Names, Puerto Rico or Puerto Ricans
- Locales: New Jersey, Paterson, NJ
The Story
Skinny Bones is a teenage Puerto Rican girl struggling to adapt to life in a multifamily apartment building in Paterson, New Jersey. She lives in a former Jewish neighborhood that is now inhabited mostly by Puerto Ricans and African Americans. As a loner, Skinny Bones is attracted to marginalized individuals like herself. She finds her soulmate in Eugene, a shy teenager who has recently come from south Georgia. Because of his marked southern accent he is soon dubbed “the Hick,” and he becomes the school's newest object of ridicule, joining Skinny Bones as an...
[The entire page is 1288 words long]
