Correspondence by Carson McCullers, 1942
The magic trick:
Showing a protagonist who is both obnoxious and lovable
Poor Henrietta Evans, the high school student from Connecticut, at the center of the story. She is lovably well-meaning and disgustingly entitled at the same time. And that’s quite a trick on McCullers’s part.
The selection:
I do not feel exactly like the other Freshmen at High School. I feel like I am different from them. When I have a girl to spend the night with me on Friday night all they want to do is meet people down at the drug store near here and so forth and at night when we lie in the bed if I bring up serious subjects they are likely to go to sleep. They don’t care anything much about foreign countries. It is not that I am terribly unpopular or anything like that but I am just not so crazy about the other Freshmen and they are not so crazy about me.
I thought a long time about you, Mauoel, before writing this letter. And I have this strong feeling we would get along together. Do you like dogs?
As always, join the conversation in the comments section below, on SSMT Facebook or on Twitter @ShortStoryMT.
Subscribe to the Short Story Magic Tricks Monthly Newsletter to get the latest short story news, contests and fun.
Short Story Magic Tricks 