Studying pharmacy but destined to be the first African-American woman to sell more than a million copies, Ann Petry broke many barriers. Born in 1908, Petry was an American writer of novels, short stories, children's books and journalism.
Ann began her educational life by studying pharmacology, and in 1934, received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Connecticut College of Pharmacy. While working as a registered pharmacist in Old Saybrook she wrote several short stories. After marriage to George David Petry in 1938, she worked for Harlem’s Amsterdam News. By 1941, she was covering general news stories and editing the women’s pages of the People’s Voice in Harlem. Her first published story, “On Saturday the Siren Sounds at Noon”, appeared in 1943 in the Crisis, a magazine published monthly by the NAACP. In 1946 Petry’s “Like a Winding Sheet”was named Best American short story of 1946.
Later, she began work on her first novel, The Street, which was published in 1946 and for which she received the Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship. Mrs. Petry wrote two more novels, Country Place and The Narrows, and numerous short stories, articles and children’s books. Ann returned with her husband to Old Saybrook in 1947 and lived there until her death. They have one daughter.
Petry told an audience in a speech published in Horn Book Magazine that she felt affected by numerous books as a child, to the extent of acting out scenes from some of her favorite books, a childhood trait which she indicated transcends generations when books and stories inspire childrens’ imaginations. She added that her historical books for juveniles have several messages for young readers, including the simple reminder that black men and women have formed an integral part of American history: "Over and over again I have said: These [characters] are people. Look at them, listen to them; watch Harriet Tubman in the nineteenth century, a heroic woman, a rescuer of other slaves. Look at Tituba in the seventeenth century, a slave involved in the witchcraft trials in Salem Village. Look at them and remember them. Remember for what a long, long time black people have been in this country, have been a part of America: a sturdy, indestructible, wonderful part of America, woven into its heart and into its soul." She continued, "These women were slaves. I hoped that I had made them come alive, turned them into real people. I tried to make history speak across the centuries in the voices of people—young, old, good, evil, beautiful, ugly."
Miss Muriel and Other Stories by Ann Petry
The stories give the reader a look at the scene of racism prevalent in America, esp the South. Petry's keen writing and sharp emotional sense makes the reader witness and sense the characters' emotions.
Most of the stories are set in the fictional town of Wheeling, New York.
In the ‘The Necessary Knocking at the Door’ , the reader is questioned as to the fairness of the incident which takes place at a conference site in the Berkshires. A conflict arises when a black woman unknowingly fails to save the life of a white woman. This white lady had earlier been racist and mean to the other woman.
In the story ‘The Bones of Louella Brown’, the story takes a satirical form and shows the superior attitude of the Boston rich society.
The story “Olaf and His Girl Friend” , is set in Barbados and in New York and addresses the issue of love across class barriers.
“The Witness' ' is drawn from personal experiences of Petry where she knew of an incident of juvenile boys in Virginia. They gangrpaed a girl and a black man was not in a position to testify against them because a predominantly white town could place him under suspicion.
According to Jimoh in their study of Petry’s work for African American Studies Commons, “In Darkness and Confusion” , a novella, brings together several issues that were prevalent in the 1940s. Some of them were unfair treatment of black soldiers, employment discrimination, the Jim Crow segregation laws, shifts in the construction of womanhood, black youth's rejection of the prevalent racialized narratives for their lives, and housing discrimination.
Ann Lane Petry ends her collection with the story “Doby's Gone”. In this story, Petry's third-person narrator presents her story from the perspective of a child.
No comments:
Post a Comment