Elbow Room Study Guide

New York-born and raised Gloria dismisses country music as a valid art form, and hates the South in general, accepting horror stories from earlier refugees. Her -husband, the narrator, disagrees. He loves square dancing, which he masters during a South Carolina childhood, despite his rigid family's rejection of dancing and all Northern pretentious. Six hours a day in fourth grade, he watches Gweneth Lawson's rich brown neck, swaying braids, colorful ribbons, and white Peter Pan collar, and the scent of fresh cut lemons that surround her win his heart. Visiting from the South Carolina part of Brooklyn, NY, Gweneth is living with her uncle and anxious to soak up local folkways. Soft-spoken and not condescending, she breaks the Northern myth. (read more)