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The Long-Distance Runner | Introduction

“The Long-Distance Runner” by Grace Paley is the last story in the collection Enormous Changes at the Last Minute, which appeared in 1974. The story is also available in The Collected Stories (1994). The story features Paley’s lead protagonist, Faith Darwin Asbury, who at forty-two has taken up longdistance running. This semi-autobiographical character shares Paley’s concern for social justice and her awareness of the cultural and economic divisions between the races, recurrent themes in Paley’s fiction. The short story foregrounds Paley’s skillful use of dialogue as a way of dramatizing differences between individuals in a given neighborhood. In this story, Faith travels back to her childhood neighborhood in Brooklyn and witnesses from the inside the deterioration of the now all African American tenement where her family once lived.

The Long-Distance Runner Summary

When “The Long-Distance Runner” begins, Faith Asbury is preparing to leave home for a longdistance run. She leaves her two sons and a neighbor friend, Mrs. Raftery, watching television. Faith takes the train to Brighton Beach, changes her clothes in a locker, and runs along the boardwalk for a mile or more. Then she cuts away from the beach and heads into her old neighborhood in Brooklyn.

Almost immediately, Faith is surrounded by a crowd of African Americans who comment on her presence and appearance. She is undaunted by them, engaging them in conversation and commenting back in their language. She points out to the crowd her old apartment, and the Girl Scout Cynthia suggests that Faith go inside the building and meet the current tenants in Faith’s childhood apartment.

On the first floor of the apartment building, Faith resists Cynthia’s suggestion to visit Mrs. Luddy, the resident in Faith’s old apartment. Faith excuses herself with the lie that her mother is dead, and she does not want to see the place. This comment arouses Cynthia’s fears about losing her... » Complete The Long-Distance Runner Summary

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1. The Long-Distance Runner: Introduction
2. The Long-Distance Runner: Summary
3. The Long-Distance Runner: Grace Paley Biography
4. The Long-Distance Runner: Characters
5. The Long-Distance Runner: Themes
6. The Long-Distance Runner: Style
7. The Long-Distance Runner: Historical Context
8. The Long-Distance Runner: Critical Overview
9. The Long-Distance Runner: Criticism
   1. Cross-Culture and Cross-Race
   2. Grace Paley’s Faith: The Journey Homeward, the Journey Forward
   3. A Matter of Voice: Grace Paley and the Oral Tradition
10. The Long-Distance Runner: Compare and Contrast
11. The Long-Distance Runner: Topics for Further Study
12. The Long-Distance Runner: What Do I Read Next?
13. The Long-Distance Runner: Bibliography and Further Reading
14. The Long-Distance Runner: Pictures
15. Copyright

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