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=Grace Paley (1922-2007)= Grace Paley was born in the Bronx to Isaac and Manya Ridnyik Goodside, who emigrated from Ukraine. Her father was a doctor. The youngest of the three Goodside children, Paley was a tomboy as a child. In 1938 and 1939, Paley attended Hunter College, then, briefly The New School, but never received a degree. In the early 1940s, Paley studied with W. H. Auden at the New School for Social Research. Auden's social concern and his heavy use of irony, is often said to be an important influence on her early work, particularly her poetry. On June 20, 1942, Grace Goodside married cinematographer Jess Paley, and had two children, Nora (1949- ) and Danny (1951- ). They later divorced. In 1972 Paley married fellow poet Robert Nichols. She taught at Sarah Lawrence College. In 1980, she was elected to the National Academy of Arts and Letters and in 1989. Governor Mario Cuomo made her the first official New York State Writer. She was the Vermont State Poet Laureate from March 5, 2003 until July 25, 2007. She died at home in Thetford, Vermont at the age of 84 of breast cancer. In a May 2007 interview with //Vermont Woman// newspaper – one of her last – Paley said of her dreams for her grandchildren: "It would be a world without militarism and racism and greed – and where women don't have to fight for their place in the world."

="Samuel" by Grace Paley=

In Paley's "Samuel" we are shown the events that take place on a subway train which result in a boy's death. For the reader to see the story as being realistic, the setting of the story must be presented as an important piece. The use of the word "negro" to describe the boys helps the reader to understand the time period of the story; "But three of the boys were Negroes and the fourth was something else she couldn't tell for sure". This may give the reader an understanding of why the people on train think and act the way they do. The entire story takes place on a subway car. This is important because it allows people from different backgrounds and ethnicities to be in one place at the same. This explains how the story can have different people with different beliefs to be in the same place as these "reckless", Negro boys. The subway car can be seen as a capsule that forces all of the people to interact with each other, rather than being somewhere where they have the ability to walk away or ignore the situation. Another important aspect of the story is the way it is told. The narrator in “Samuel” is a third person omniscient narrator who is all knowing and aware of the events that are about to unfold; he or she seems to already know that Samuel will die and that other children will be born, but “never again will a boy exactly like Samuel be known” (1079). With the story ending with that quote we feel that it forces readers to sympathize with Samuel’s mother and question the thoughts and actions of those in the train. The narrator may have wanted us to wonder if the passengers on the train felt guilty for their actions, and possibly lack of action. People’s actions and thoughts are influenced by their own personal backgrounds. These personal backgrounds create differences and lead to fear of embarrassment or harsh criticism. This can be seen in both the men and women, as known as “ladies”, on the train. We also see the differences in how the men and women interpret the situation. The men on the train are characterized by being “once brave boys” or those who were more “watchful” as kids. The “once brave” men think “It must be fun to ride that way” (1078). Here, it shows that some of the men agree or sympathize with the way the boys act, and that it’s part of what young boys do, and that they shouldn’t be yelled at, or told to stop. After all “nothing happened to them (the men) then or later” (1078). The “ladies” however, (referred to as ladies instead of women) “became very angry” (1078) and “brought their brows together and hoped the boys could see their extreme disapproval.” (1078). One particular lady begins to think that she should go to the boys and tell them to get off the platform, but due to their different race, she becomes “afraid they’d be fresh and laugh at her and embarrass her”. This points back to how differences can cause people to hold back on a certain action. However, the lady eventually does approach them and tell them to stop, but because of her stumbling, the boys laugh and embarrass her. Seeing this, a man “whose childhood had been more watchful than brave” had become angry and had taken action by pulling the emergency brake to stop the train which lead to Samuel’s death. Here we can see how the difference in his childhood behavior led him to act impulsively to stop the boy’s reckless behavior. Paley’s last quote in life was that she felt the ideal world for her grandchildren would be one “without militarism and racism and greed- and where women don’t have to fight for their place in the world” (Vermont Woman newspaper). We feel that Paley’s characters in “Samuel” show how differences between people can cause heart breaking tragedies; the fact that most of the boys were Negroes, which caused the woman to be fearful of embarrassment and how the rude and reckless behavior of the boys led the “watchful” man to stop the train without warning. We also see her feelings about how women weren’t equals with men. It can be seen when she refers women to “ladies”, almost sounding like they are dependent on men to be a part of society. At the end of the story, we see Samuel’s mother continuing on with life, but always mourning the death of her son, but we never know how the people on train felt. Paley leaves the reader wondering how the people felt afterwards. Do they mourn Samuel as well? Does the woman wish she had acted earlier? Does the man wish he hadn’t pulled the brake? Do the other boys continue to act reckless? We don’t know because the omniscient narrator chose not share this information with the reader. We know however, that “never again will a boy exactly like Samuel be known” (1079).

=References= Charters, Ann. //The Story and Its Writer: An Introduction to Short Fiction//. New York: St. Martin's, 1983. Print. "Grace Paley." //Wikipedia//. Wikimedia Foundation, 29 Mar. 2012. Web. 03 Apr. 2012. .