Doc's Story (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: John Edgar Wideman
- First Published: 1986
- Type of Plot: Psychological, frame story
- Time of Work: The 1970's to 1980's
- Setting: A neighborhood park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Principal Characters: A young man, His girlfriend, The storytellers, Doc
- Genres: Short fiction
- Subjects: African Americans, 1970’s, North America or North Americans, United States or Americans, Love or romance, Twentieth century, Blindness or blind persons, 1980’s, Pennsylvania, Storytelling, Philadelphia, Success or failure, Basketball, Dating
- Locales: Philadelphia, PA
The Story
“Doc's Story” is really two stories in one, for the narrator's own story is as important as the title story it contains. The narrator, who lost his girlfriend in May, spends the next few months hanging out at a neighborhood park and listening to the African American men who congregate on the basketball court, swapping stories. He needs their stories for his own survival. His favorites somehow bring him alive, and he finds himself laughing and hugging the other listeners. The story that affects him most is the story of Doc, which he hears only three times, but the...
[The entire page is 1317 words long]
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