Dacoff Short Story

To Do: Apply Professor Dancoff’s

“The Least You Should Know About Any Work of Fiction”

1. Identify the protagonist in 3-5 sentences, describe his/her life situation and basic personality, and then state his/her problem and/or primary motivation. What is the central idea, need, or problem that drives the protagonist? How does the protagonist change by the end of the story? What have they learned?

The protagonist is a 10 year old Nigerian-American girl with an envious, jealous, and revengeful personality. She has grown up in the shadow of her older brother, Nonso, who is treated with more respect and attention because he is male. The protagonist wants to receive the same amount of respect and attention that her brother receives. By the end

The narrator becomes increasingly envious of her brother’s social status. Anxious to get back, she tricks Nonso to climb up a tree and scares him, causing him to fall to his death. She then lies to her mother, explaining that her grandmother had tricked Nonso and caused him to fall to his death. As a result, her parents divorce and her mother prohibits her from visiting her grandmother. In the end of her story, she meets Dozie and realizes that he kept her secret because he cares more about her than about his own wants.

4. Describe the conflict in less than 50 words. What is at stake? What are people fighting over? What is the problem? Remember that there is always a problem in literature. The human condition—the subject of all literature—is about problems.

The narrator is jealous of her brother’s social status. She feels her brother steals the love, respect and space that should belong to her. As a result, she wants to injure her brother so her family members will favor her instead. However, this puts the happiness of her family at

Throughout the events of the short story, she becomes increasingly jealous of her brother. In the beginning, her grandmother permits only the narrator’s older brother, Nonso, to climb the coconut trees to fetch coconut for the family. Next, the grandmother allows Nonso to eat first. Finally, the narrator has a flashback of how her mother would chuckle whenever she tucked Nonso to sleep but would only give the narrator a simple goodnight. The narrator’s jealousy and envy of her brother’s social status causes the narrator to trick her brother. The story climaxes when the narrator scares her brother into climbing a tree, where he falls to his death. The narrator illustrates the climax by saying, “Then you scream, ‘ A snake! It’s the echi eteka’. Nonso looked down at you and let go, his foot slipping and his arm freeing themselves. Or maybe the tree simply shrugged Nonso