A Bottle of Milk for Mother (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Nelson Algren
- First Published: 1941
- Type of Plot: Naturalistic
- Time of Work: The 1930's
- Setting: Chicago
- Principal Characters: Bruno “Lefty” Bicek, Captain Kozak, Sergeant Adamovitch, A newspaper reporter
- Genres: Short fiction, Naturalistic literature
- Subjects: Murder or homicide, Police, Inner cities or inner-city life, Fate or fatalism
- Locales: Chicago, IL
The Story
“A Bottle of Milk for Mother” is an interrogation story that pits a young Polish hoodlum against an experienced, cynical police captain. From the time that he is brought into the interrogation room until he is led to his cell, Bruno struggles to maintain his composure, to use his street knowledge of law, and to avoid implicating his friend and accomplice Benkowski. Unfortunately for Bruno, while he succeeds in shielding Benkowski, his case is “well disposed of,” and he is left to tell himself, “I knew I’d never get to be twenty-one anyhow.”
Rather...
[The entire page is 1528 words long]
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