The stories that frame this volume ("A Party down at the Square" and "Flying Home") develop the theme of the individual person's separation from his society. The young white narrator of the first story is initially fascinated by the social ritual of the lynching, but he sees its destructive effects: a plane crash, the electrocution of a bystander, a fire that destroys much of the town, and a second lynching. Although he does not articulate his disenchantment as the white sharecropper does, his physical and emotional reactions indicate that he no longer shares the attitudes of his neighbors.
Todd ("Flying Home") has refused to accept the limitations imposed upon him by both Caucasians and African-Americans, becoming a Tuskeegee airman. His accomplishments have made him feel superior to black men like Jefferson but have not earned.....
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