Mónica Medina
Dr. Jo Anne Harris
English Comp. II
Jan.21.2019
When discussing the short stories of "Little Cog-burt" & "Cotton Candy", it is inevitable to find similarities as well as contrast. In "Little Cog-burt", Cog-burt was a little boy, son of a laundress. In the story the author refers to him as a "miserable whining little boy" (Allfrey 8), "who dragged along behind his enormous mother" (Allfrey 8). Afraid, he would also hide from Moira, who did not like the laborers children. His social behavior is also described the day of the party.
Although all of the children were quiet until they received their gifts. Cog-burt was alone and when Moira, Ma'am Jovey, and Richard addressed him, he did nothing more than to stay silent and shrink away. Him not speaking, led them to give him and unwrap his gift, which unexpected to them caused him to cry. This was his way of expressing how he felt about the gift. They had to get his mother involved in order for him to communicate in an "unintelligible" (Allfrey 10) way, and she is the only person who understood what he was saying.
These behavioral characteristics lead me to believe that the author is portraying Cog-burt as a child with a potential social disorder, phobia, or even autism. The child was known for whining, yet the way I perceive, this was the child's way of communicating.
In "Cotton Candy", although we know that Lola was able to communicate through speech and was able to even become a vendor, I find Lola's behavioral characteristics very similar to Cog-burt's. Lola is also described as shy, well she sent butterfly corpses to boys/men whom she had loved. Yet all of this, she did in secret. Her fascination with butterflies but mostly their corpses, to me, is also a characteristic of unusual behavior among majority of children. I understand that her being infatuated with these, she did not
see why it could seem odd to receive the gift of a dead butterfly.
Although I believe that Lola's mom's dictating personality had a lot to do with her taken back and dependable behavior, I think that Lola as an adult should've been able to stand her ground, developing and flourishing her own personality.
Her natural need to fulfill her sexual desire, led her to feel a connection with the zoo animals. Yet can we say that this is also another characteristic of an unusual behavior, or is this just thirst for feeling and emotional connection? The dependency of the characters, their ways of communication, and interest (such as the fairy and butterflies (and corpses)), to me seem as out of the ordinary. By my understanding of both readings I can say that both Alonso and Allfrey placed those details into their personalities to intentionally highlight these behaviors.
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Phyllis Shand Allfrey. “Little Cog-burt.” Green Cane and Juicy Flotsam: Short Stories by Caribbean Women, Rutgers University Press, 1991, p.8/10.
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