First Love and Other Sorrows by Harold Brodkey
"First Love and Other Sorrows" by Harold Brodkey is a coming-of-age story set in St. Louis, Missouri, during a time when community interactions are more pronounced, such as listening to radios and engaging in local social events. The narrative centers on a sixteen-year-old boy navigating the complexities of adolescence, family dynamics, and the pursuit of personal identity amidst shifting social expectations. Through his observations of his mother and sister's struggles with societal pressures and the search for wealth and status, he begins to understand the intricacies of human relationships and the emotional turmoil that accompanies them.
The protagonist feels like an outsider in his own home, grappling with the aftermath of his father's death and the changing family dynamics that result from it. As he witnesses his sister's rejection of suitors and his mother's relentless pursuit of social standing, he undergoes a transformation from a self-conscious boy to a more self-aware individual. This journey emphasizes the themes of familial bonds, personal insecurities, and the bittersweet nature of first love. By the story's conclusion, the boy gains insight into the social nuances around him and recognizes the importance of acceptance and success in shaping one's sense of self-worth. Overall, Brodkey's work provides a poignant exploration of youth, love, and the quest for belonging.
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First Love and Other Sorrows by Harold Brodkey
First published: 1957
Type of plot: Domestic realism
Time of work: The 1950's
Locale: St. Louis, Missouri
Principal Characters:
The narrator , a bookish sixteen-year-old boy who is easily embarrassedHis mother , a woman desperate to return to the wealth and status that she enjoyed in her youthDodie , his older sister, a beautiful young woman obsessed with finding a wealthy husbandPreston , his friend who wants to be a physicistElanor Cullen , a neighbor girlJoel Bush , a handsome, popular boySonny Bruster , the son of a rich banker whose marriage proposal Dodie accepts
The Story
Not a traditionally structured story, "First Love and Other Sorrows" does not confine itself to a strictly focused plot. It is a sentimental education in miniature that captures the feelings of an intelligent but insecure sixteen-year-old boy just beginning to gain insight into the human experience. Rather than plot, the story is constructed out of nuance and discovery.
The story is set in St. Louis, Missouri, during an era when people know their neighbors, listen to radios, send telegrams, go to double features, and know what "zoot-suiters" are. At home, the narrator is almost an outsider. Since his father's death, his family's station in life has fallen, and his mother and sister are coconspirators in a search for a suitable husband for the sister. As the story begins, the narrator cannot understand why his mother is so eager that Dodie accept one of the rich boys who court her. He quietly takes his sister's side when she argues with her mother that she is too young to marry and does not want to stop having a good time. Each time a rich boy is "won," Dodie rejects him. Gradually, the narrator perceives how his mother's own craving for wealth and social standing is seeking an outlet in his sister. The mother becomes increasingly anxious at her daughter's willfulness.
Long enthralled by his sister's beauty, the narrator finds it difficult to imagine her doing anything wrong. After she breaks a necklace, however, he realizes that she does not know what she is doing and that his is "not necessarily a happy family," but one that might make mistakes. Gradually, the narrator grows more able to break out of his self-consciousness. At the beginning of the story, he is very much a little boy when his mother scolds him for getting muddy. Later, he is embarrassed when his mother and sister ask him how often he shaves. He accepts without complaint that he must move his "treasures" (baseball glove, postcard collection, dirty comic books, personal notes) out of the house for spring cleaning. He berates himself for being too gloomy and serious. He agrees with his friend Preston's personal criticism. They envy the beautiful, confident Joel Bush, who gets girls.
As the narrator's self-consciousness turns more toward self-awareness, he admits that more than anything else he wants to be a success because he knows of no other way to be "lovable." By the end of the story, he understands the precariousness of his sister's position and, as a result, the importance of her new clothes (the mother borrows money to buy them), her earrings, and her long conferences with her mother about social nuances.
Bibliography
Bawer, Bruce. "A Genius for Publicity." The New Criterion 7 (December, 1988): 58-69.
Bidney, Martin. "Song of Innocence and of Experience: Rewriting Blake in Brodkey's 'Piping Down the Valleys Wild.'" Studies in Short Fiction 31 (Spring, 1994): 237-246.
Braham, Jeanne. "The Power of Witness." The Georgia Review 52 (Spring, 1998): 168-180.
Brodkey, Harold. This Wild Darkness: The Story of My Death. New York: Henry Holt, 1996.
Dolan, J. D. "Twilight of an Idol." Nation 262 (March 25, 1995): 35-36.
Kermode, Frank. "I Am Only Equivocally Harold Brodkey." The New York Times Book Review, September 18, 1988, 3.
Mano, D. Keith. "Harold Brodkey: The First Rave." Esquire 87 (January, 1977): 14-15.
Weiseltier, Leon. "A Revelation." The New Republic 192 (May 20, 1985): 30-33.