“But Andy was a boy, and boys don’t tell their hearts out, and he would have died rather than confess his weakness for the world to laugh at and jibe and jeer. For Andy wanted a doll” (Dunbar-Nelson 416).
I am glad to have come across "His Heart's Desire," an Alice Dunbar-Nelson story published in a special issue of Legacy in 2016. As the editors explains, the tale shows "her ability to transmute what could be sentimental subject matter into a masterful story without one false note,” her sensitive understanding of children (informed by her work as a teacher), and also reminds us of her work on behalf of poor families (Gebhard, et. al 405). It's also an study of the construction of masculinity in progress, as poor Andy hides his desire for the doll.
Works Cited
Dunbar-Nelson, Alice. “His Heart’s Desire.” Legacy, vol. 33, no. 2, 2016, pp. 416-421. JSTOR.
Gebhard, Caroline, Katherine Adams, and Sandra A. Zagarell. “Recovered from the Archive: Two Stories by Alice Dunbar-Nelson.” Legacy, vol. 33, no. 2, 2016, pp. 404–07. JSTOR.
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