'The Death of Tommy Grimes', analyse af racisme

The theme of racism has become a continuing problem in the US. Especially in the southern states the history of racism towards the black population has been a dark chapter in US history. This atmosphere has been portrayed in the fictional short story ”The Death of Tommy Grimes” from 1962.

The story is about a young boy at the age of eleven. His name is Tommy Grimes. Tommy’s dad wants him to hunt, but deep down Tommy doesn’t want to. But Tommy knows he has to do it if he wants to become a man, because people around him only accept boys who hunt. Tommy’s dad gives him many lessons about hunting.

One day Tommy takes a decision and goes out for hunt. He shoots a black man and his dad gets proud of him for the first time.

When they were in the Hut, everybody adored Tommy. He got some liquor, and now he was “a real man”.

I want to write something about the title first, because it fits perfectly to the short story. When I first read the short story, I thought Tommy would die at the end, but things turned out pretty shocking. Tommy Grimes died, but not physical. The little, innocent and scared child died. Now he was braver. As his dad said every time he killed someone or something a little part of him would die, and that’s what happened. The innocence and fear died with Tommy Grimes, and now he was Tom Grimes. He wanted to grow up, and R.J. Meaddough describes Tommy’s thoughts like this: “Soon they would be calling him Tom Grimes like his father.”