Literary Element - Dry September

I've noticed that characterization is an important aspect in Dry September. This story was written in 1931 when most whites were bitter towards African-Americans and treated them harshly. Dry September includes direct and indirect descriptions which is extremely helpful to learn about the characters, their relationships, and the society they live in. We are able to find out many things about the characters, especially from their words.

""Except it wasn't Will Mayes," a barber said. He was a man of middle age; a thin, sand-colored man with a mild face, who was shaving a client. "I know Will Mayes. He's a good nigger. And I know Miss Minnie Cooper, too." "Who is she? A young girl?"" "You damn niggerlover!" A white barber, a "man of middle age," is defending a Black man. The other white men defend the white woman instead of the Black man, even though they don't truly know of her. This shows that they were racist and unjust towards Blacks. They frown upon the white barber who is defending Will Mayes. 

"She was thirty-eight or thirty-nine... Minnie's bright dresses, her idle and empty days, had a quality of furious unreality. She went out in the evenings only with women now, neighbors, to the moving pictures. Each afternoon she dressed in one of the new dresses and went downtown alone..." "She ain't married. That's why I don't believe..." "She passed and went along the serried store fronts, in the doors of which the sitting and lounging men did not even follow her with their eyes any more." Since she was old and not yet married, we can assume how lonely and rejected she must feel. We learn that she dresses to impress, and craves for attention with her clothes. She wanted men to notice her. It was uncommon for women her age to be single. "This ain't the first man scare she ever had, wasn't there something about a man on the kitchen roof, watching her undress about a year ago?" "Do you suppose anything really happened?" 

Without having these details, we wouldn't have known about Will Mayes or Minnie Cooper. Will Mayes must have been a responsible person in order that a White man would want to defend him (which was against their cultural norms). We learn that the white people were quick to defend a white person over an accused African-American without taking the time to investigate. They wanted to punish a Black man without getting evidence that he actually committed a crime. We learn that Minnie Cooper is still single and desires a husband. She's lonely. We can assume that her story might've been false since she isn't married yet and she has been claimed to have gone through harassment before. 

Reading times:

Dry September: 30 min.

And of Clay We are Made: 50 min.

Harrison Bergeron: 30 min.

Waltz of the Fat Man: 30 min.

The Rocking Horse Winner: 60 min.

Total: 200 min.