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The Broken Cord (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)

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Michael Dorris, an unmarried young anthropologist about to embark on an academic career, decides in 1971 that he wants to become an adoptive father. Despite reservations, after the unavoidable delays caused by red tape, the social agencies accept his application, and he is eventually informed that a three-year- old American Indian boy is available. Undeterred by the information that the boy has been diagnosed as mentally retarded, Dorris unhesitatingly agrees to take the boy, flies from New Hampshire to the adoption agency in Pierre, South Dakota, and collects the smiling, affectionate...

[The entire page is 2087 words long]

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