Home by Gil Brewer

Originally published March 1956 in Accused; this edition 1995

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Collected in: Hard-Boiled: An Anthology of American Crime Stories (ed. Bill Pronzini & Jack Adrian)

MA15+

(L, D, N, V)

Coarse Language {PG}

Drug References {M} {Alcohol - frequent public drunkenness, leading to menace}

Nudity {M}

Violence {MA}

Representations

Gender:

Women present as family members, agents of racism (indistinguishable alongside men), and as instigators of racial violence vindictively or to divert from apparent sexual shame.

Sex:

Only heterosexuality mentioned. One woman (partly self-) sexualised in a pitiably malevolent way.

Race & Ethnicity:

Protagonist is African American from a poor family. Story is driven by racial violence in 1950s USA and the difficulty of surviving same as a young black man. Story passes Johnson Test. Black characters portrayed as poor

Disability, Physical Diversity and Health:

None noticed.

Awards

None found

Notes

Yet another difficult story to read, for its tension and tragic inevitability. Guy goes off to study to be a doctor, comes back on vacation to a home he is no longer used to and has lost from disuse the skills to survive in.