Essay Questions

What was the genesis of this memoir?

The book opens with a dedication to Louise Kennedy Evans Elder. She will prove to be the dominating figure throughout the narrative. Familiarly referred to as Nanny throughout, Louise is actually the matriarch of the clan in her role as the author’s grandmother. Although seemingly a larger-than-life figure with the power to defy the odds, she did unfortunately succumb to the inevitability of mortality on December 3, 2019. The foreknowledge of this inescapable reality was already being prepared for by the author before death finally arrived. Almost as if the two events were connected, he had already decided on December 1, 2019 that he was going to write this book.

Who are the gang of four around which the story of being raised by Nanny revolves?

While the powerful presence of Nanny sits at the center of the memoir like a bright shining star, much of the detail lies in satellites orbiting around her. Of special interest is a miniature solar system of the author, his brother Garrett and their two cousins Lil’ Rall and Rasul. Rall was born in 1980 with his brother Rasul coming a year later while Garrett came along in 1988, three years following the birth of the author. The memoir is an excellent demonstration of how in some families cousins really can become as closely bonded to each other as siblings in more conventionally structured extended families. Although not starting out that way, eventually all four cousins would come to call same small-town home as they shared not only blood, but guidance, love and protection all coming from the same influential source of Nanny.

What one rule about playing with their toys starkly reveals how race informs childhood in America?

Chapter 4 bears a subtitle which must surely rank somewhere among the fifty most instantly recognizable movie quotes of all time: “You’ll shoot your eye out.” That line comes courtesy of Ralphie’s mom in the holiday classic A Christmas Story, of course. And if one takes a moment to recall it in detail, they will remember that its most potent occurrence comes as Ralphie is heading out the door armed with his beloved Red Ryder, carbine action, two-hundred shot range model air rifle which he proceeds to play with and ultimately fire without any adult supervision or care in the world. That childhood experience with a BB gun or a cap pistol or even a toy gun completely incapable making a noise or firing from its barrel is one shared by untold millions of little white boys and it is worth noting how significantly different the rules have been for them in comparison to the author and his brother and countless millions of little black boys: “…even though Garrett and I had dozens of toy guns, we were not allowed to go outside with them. We could do whatever we wanted with them indoors, but we knew were in trouble if we stepped out of the house with them.”