This short story named Jesse was written by Joy Boothe. The story was published in 2012. The story consists of the main character, which highly could be the author. The story takes place in the US, in a state called Alabama in the 1957, the whole story takes places over about 22 years, but jumps memory to memory with several years between, however still in a chronological order, with no flashbacks. The story is written from a first-person narrator’s point of view, and it is written in present tense.
The story is about a girl, whose name never is mentioned, but you could easily think that her name is Jesse. However, she hates the name Jesse, at least in the start of the story, the main character goes through a development throughout the story, not only the obvious age development, but also her view on different things, like her view on colored people. Jesse changes her mind throughout the story, she goes from hating the name Jesse, at the start of the story to naming her child Jesse.
This doesn’t just happen because of her grandmother, and to rebel against the prejudices her grandmother and society holds against black people. There is a deeper meaning with calling her son Jesse. At the beginning of the story, she hates the name because it reminds her of her great uncle Jesse Long. Long was an alcoholic that committed suicide, on his and his wife’s porch while her aunt Nanny watched. Nanny told stories about how he would, call for her attention to witness his suicide, like he didn’t even regard to those around him.
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