Doc's Story by John Edgar Wideman
"Doc's Story" by John Edgar Wideman presents a layered narrative that intertwines the experiences of a narrator coping with the loss of his girlfriend and the legendary tale of a blind basketball player named Doc. The narrator spends time in a neighborhood park, engaging with African American men who share their stories, which offer him comfort and connection during a difficult period in his life. Among these stories, Doc's stands out; it recounts Doc's resilience as he continues to excel in basketball despite losing his sight. His remarkable ability to play and sink free throws becomes a symbol of hope and inspiration for the community. The narrator reflects on whether knowing Doc's story could have changed his girlfriend's decision to leave, suggesting a desire for deeper understanding and connection through storytelling. The tale of Doc serves not only as a testament to individual strength but also as a focal point that brings the community together, allowing for a rich exchange of experiences and emotions. Ultimately, "Doc's Story" explores themes of loss, resilience, and the power of narrative in shaping identity and relationships.
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Doc's Story by John Edgar Wideman
First published: 1986
Type of plot: Psychological, frame story
Time of work: The 1970's to 1980's
Locale: A neighborhood park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Principal Characters:
A young man , the narratorHis girlfriend The storytellers , men who gather at the local basketball courtDoc , the legendary blind basketball player
The Story
"Doc's Story" is really two stories in one, for the narrator's own story is as important as the title story it contains. The narrator, who lost his girlfriend in May, spends the next few months hanging out at a neighborhood park and listening to the African American men who congregate on the basketball court, swapping stories. He needs their stories for his own survival. His favorites somehow bring him alive, and he finds himself laughing and hugging the other listeners. The story that affects him most is the story of Doc, which he hears only three times, but the presence of Doc presides over the basketball court where the storytellers hang out, and his story is at the heart of their lives.
Doc was an athlete at the local university, where he later taught, the core story begins. At some point, his eyes weakened, and then he went blind. His blindness did not lessen his basketball ability, however, and he would come to the court day or night and sink endless free throws between pickup games. On a certain Sunday, however, Doc's ability failed him, and when a young boy named Sky slam-dunked an errant free throw, Doc confronted him. Then, instead of walking away in anger, Doc joined a game and played. It is a legendary tale, the story of a blind man playing basketball and holding his own in the sighted world.
The narrator wonders, at the conclusion of Doc's story, if the tale would have made his girlfriend feel differently about leaving. She would have thought it was folklore or superstition, he thinks. If he had known Doc's story before she left, however, the miracle of a blind man playing basketball, then, maybe. . . . The thought seems to give him something to hold on to.
Bibliography
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Hume, Kathryn. "Black Urban Utopia in Wideman's Later Fiction." Race & Class 45, no. 3 (January-March, 2004): 19-34.
Lucy, Robin. "John Edgar Wideman (1941- )." In Contemporary African American Novelists: A Biographical-Bibliographic Critical Sourcebook, edited by Emmanuel S. Nelson. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1999.
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Mbalia, Dorothea Drummond. John Edgar Wideman: Reclaiming the African Personality. Selinsgrove, Pa.: Susquehanna University Press, 1995.
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TuSmith, Bonnie. Conversations with John Edgar Wideman. Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 1998.