Unit Three Theme: Sorrow of Powerlessness
The short stories, "Nineteen Fifty-five," "Blue Winds Dancing," "The Man Who Was Almost a Man," and "Seventeen Syllables" have a unified theme in that all characters of the stories feel the sorrow of powerlessness in American society because of their race, social position, and immigrant status. All characters of the four above stories have one thing in common: all of them are the most vulnerable members of American society. In "Nineteen Fifty-five," Grace is an exploited black woman. The narrator of the short story "Blue Winds Dancing" is a Native American neglected in the white society. Furthermore, in "The Man Who Was Almost a Man," Dave is a black adolescent laborer who works for a white landowner. Finally, Tome Hayashi in "Seventeen Syllables" is a Japanese immigrant who lives an oppressed life. They try to resolve their conflicts and soothe their sorrow resulting from the powerlessness in their own ways.