Elbow Room | Criticism

  • David Kelly

    Kelly is an instructor of English literature and creative writing. In this essay, Kelly looks at the story as posing a philosophical rather than a social problem.

  • Laura Pryor

    Pryor has a bachelor of arts from the University of Michigan and twenty years experience in professional and creative writing with special interest in fiction. In this essay, she explores the recurring metaphor of imprisonment used by James Alan Mcpherson in this story.

  • Bonnie Weinreich

    Freelance writer Bonnie Weinreich has a bachelor's degree in English and has worked as a reporter for a daily newspaper. In this essay, Weinreich considers the different ways the word nigger is used in James Alan Mcpherson's short story, "Elbow Room," and how its variety of uses reflects the difficulty in communicating across racial lines.

  • Phillip M. Richards

    In the following review, Richards discusses Crabcakes, Mcpherson's memoir, comparing themes in the work to those found in his Elbow Room collection.

  • Robie Macauley

    In the following review, Macauley pays praise to the many virtues—including depth, control, and humanity—Mcpherson displays in the stories in Elbow Room.