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How do you tell a story of a boy who was raised right but turned out wrong? Do you focus on key events during the course of his life, or do you examine his life in sequence from birth? In his compelling essay “Our Time”, John Edgar Wideman has the responsibility of telling the story of the boy who turned out wrong. . The boy is Widman’s younger brother and black sheep of the family Robby. Wideman uses three voices and three events to tell his brother Robby’s story. The three voices that Wideman brings into his essay to help his readers understand why his brother “went bad” are the voices of his brother Robby, his mother, and himself. The three events that Wideman mingles into his essay to help himself come to an understanding of his brother and the troubles that plagued him are the tragic death of Robby’s best friend Garth, the family’s move to Shadyshide, (A predominant white neighborhood) and the time of Robby’s birth. Why does Wideman present the three events the way he does? Is he trying to single out the event that caused Robby’s downfall? Each event has an effect on Robby; an effect that would steer him towards drugs, crime, and involvement in a murder that would mean a life sentence in prison. Did Robby have bad luck? Imagine rolling the dice and seeing snake eyes come up or landing on the chance spot on the Monopoly board and picking up that little orange card and reading, Do not pass Go…Do not collect two hundred dollars…Go Straight to Jail. No, it wasn’t bad luck; it started with Garth’s death. During a visit to the prison Robby reassembles Garth’s death to his brother, “Something had crawled inside Garth’s belly. The man said it wasn’t nothing. Sold him some aspirins and said he’d be all right in no time.
Approximate Word count = 1241
Approximate Pages = 5
(250 words per page double spaced)
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