SOURCE: "Alienation and Isolation in Nelson Algren's 'A Bottle of Milk for Mother'," in English Journal, Vol. 60, No. 6, September, 1971, pp. 724-27.

In the following essay, Silkowski discusses themes of identity and isolation in "A Bottle of Milk for Mother, "focusing on how to make the story meaningful to students.

Sue came to school each day in a canary yellow Mustang; Leslie wore clothes right out of the pages of a fashion magazine; Gary wanted to be sure I had filled out his recommendation for Yale.

Our next short story was to be Nelson Algren's "A Bottle of Milk for Mother." I had spent part of my childhood in the areas described by Lefty Bicek. I was moved by my recollections of those neighborhoods. My problem, however, was not only how to convey the appreciation of realistic detail, but also how to make the theme of the story relevant...