The Long-Distance Runner (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Grace Paley
- First Published: 1974
- Type of Plot: Fantasy
- Time of Work: The early 1970's
- Setting: New York City
- Principal Characters: Faith, Jack, Richard, Anthony, Cynthia, Mrs. Luddy
- Genres: Short fiction, Fantasy
- Subjects: African Americans, 1970’s, Children, New York, North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., United States or Americans, Mothers, Parents and children, New York City, Women, Athletes, Running, Track athletics
- Locales: New York, NY
The Story
Faith explains that one day in her early forties, she became a long-distance runner, because she wanted to travel around the county, including the old neighborhood streets. One day Faith kisses her sons goodbye and travels to her childhood neighborhood, now populated primarily by African Americans. As she jogs through the area, she is suddenly surrounded by a few hundred African Americans, and there occurs a surreal, at times humorous, discussion of a number of unrelated subjects between Faith and the large crowd. A Girl Scout named Cynthia volunteers to take Faith to...
[The entire page is 1395 words long]
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