River Of Names Dorothy Allison Summary

“River of Names” is part of a collection of short stories in the book Trash published in 1988, written by Dorothy Allison. It is the basis for the later novel Bastard out of Carolina. In her powerful writing, Allison draws on her own harrowing childhood in 1950s Greenville, South Carolina: the stigma of growing up a bastard, the shame and pride she felt toward her family, and her association with her stepfather who beat and molested her. “In this story, “River of Names,” Allison writes about her life as a way to come to terms with her past, honoring the attempt to make contemporary literature out of her experience as a working class lesbian addicted to violence, language and hope.” Her emotionally intense
“ River of Names” is informing the reader there are more names of family members than one can possibly remember. She then continues on to parallel the family to tadpoles and that no one would notice if one were missing from time to time. This concept is further demonstrated by the narrator trying to list the method of death that each lost one went through. One did this, one did that, one fell in the river, one ran away, etc. The list seems almost endless. This does not include any of the individual incidents that are then told. The people in these tales do get names and the reader is swamped with many different names and different tragedies all more horrifying than the previous tale. In every paragraph there are truths and deaths, plenty of accidents, sickness and sorrow and there is
The narrator has a lover, Jessie whom she loves deeply. Her relationship with Jesse seems to be used as a contrast and also as a relief between some of the appalling events that are told. Jessie is portrayed as having a fairy tale adolescence. She is innocent and the narrator clings to that naiveté for hope. This is adherence shown with the repeated use of hands as symbols of healing and bonding of these two women. “Jessie said with her smooth mouth, that chin nobody ever slapped, and I loved that chin, but when Jessie spoke then, my hands shook.” Her hands are again mentioned in detail as under Jesse’s chin as she was sleeping. The narrator holds on to that soft-chinned innocence. Jesse’s hands are spoken of holding onto the narrators hipbones as she professes her love. This leaves the narrator feeling better after a tragic memory in the previous paragraph. Both of the lovers’ hands are referred to one last time, at the very end almost in a coming together, unifying the two bodies to one. Detachment is also used as a survival method in the way the narrator responds to Jesse’s comments and questions. “How wonderful to have such a large