The Long-Distance Runner Essay | Critical Essay #1

The Long-Distance Runner Critical Essay #1

Monahan has a Ph.D. in English. She teaches at Wayne State University and also operates an editing service, The Inkwell Works. In the following essay, Monahan explores the cross-cultural, cross-racial homecoming that is enacted in "The Long-Distance Runner."

Grace Paley's "The Long-Distance Runner" begins with a common enough experience, a long-absent adult's return to the childhood neighborhood. People occasionally drive through their old neighborhoods to look at the homes and buildings in which they spent earlier years. If a new ethnic or racial group occupies the neighborhood, the returning visitors may remark on the culture they remember and contrast it with the culture they now observe. Indeed, as they register local changes, they may wonder about the people who now live in what used to be their homes; they may slow down or park near the old house and imagine themselves reentering it. This commonplace fantasy is literalized with...
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