Grab Daddy Was A Number Runner Published By Louise Meriwether Accessible As Digital

What happens to a dream deferred

Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun
Or fester like a soreAnd then run
Does it stink like rotten meat
Or crust and sugar over like a syrupy sweet
Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.

Or does it explode
Langston Hughes "Harlem"

After finishing “Daddy Was a Number Runner”, I couldnt help but think of Langston Hughes and his famous poem about dreams in Harlem.
It is almost as if that poem was written specifically for Francie Coffin and the people of Harlem during the Great Depression.
Despite all it lacks such as decent housing, jobs, opportunity, or racial justice, it doesnt lack for dreams, The dreams of young black boys who want to be scientists while cooking up experiments in their familys cramped and rodent infested kitchens.
The dreams of young black girls who want to be taken away to far flung locales by movie on their white horses.
The dreams of black women who wish they could find a way to keep food on their familys table.
The dreams of black men who dream of having the dignity and respect of men,
Yes, Harlem here is awash in dreams, The reality however is this Harlem is awash in spiritual decay and death, One need look no further than the putrid smelling garbage piled up around the city, the boy working in the

mortuary, or the very name of our heroine Coffin.
Death is all around these characters and there is no real viable way out for any of them, Francies mom is forced to become a maid to support her family and in a particularly painful scene in the book, we know this is the path France will follow.
Sukie, Francies friend, has a sister who is a prostitute and we know that this is the future awaiting Sukie as well.
These characters fight with every ounce of their being to be something else, anything else than what the future holds for them, but we share their pain that they are simply marking time until this future catches up to them.

How can it be otherwise when the most prestigious job even the most educated black person can aspire to is seamstress or janitor When the white people who would potentially hire them, when not holding them in contempt, are offering nickels to young black girls to grope them in dark alleys
No, we know this is a world Francie and her friends will never escape from no matter how much they struggle.
Sometimes when it is all stacked up against you, and youve banged your head up against every wall in your way, and have barely even turned, you can only do what Francie does at the end of this story from a rooftop with her friends.
You can only look up at the dark and starry sky, with all its potential, and mutter to yourself
Shit.

This bittersweet and sharply observed masterpiece recounts a year in the life of twelveyearold France Coffin, It is the summer of, and nowhere are the effects of the Great Depression more apparent than in Harlem.
But Harlem is also home to a community's anger, humor, and vitality, the paradoxical cradle of young Francie's innocence and dreams just like the daily numbers game played for the small glint of hope that it boldly promises but will never fulfill.
"Daddy Was a Number Runner" was the kind of book with a simple plot and straightforward writing yet I know the story would stay with me for years to come.
Not exactly a pageturner because the content was a bit heavy to process, and the fact there was no climax or plot development to speak of.
An innocent or not so much sometimes account, through the eyes of ayo, of the life of the African American and immigrants living in Harlem, New York, in thes.
The version I read, published by The Feminist Press at CUNY, came with a forward by James Baldwin and a great afterword provided some thoughtprovoking insights.
It was storming, one of those reddish days that looks like the earth's on fire, It got darker and darker, all in the middle of the day, like the sun had gone off somewhere and died.
The rain came down with a roar, The thunder boomed, the lightning cracked across the sky, and as I pressed my nose against the livingroom window looking out at the storm, I shivered just a little, for who could tell that this wasn't doomsday.
Gabriel, Gabriel, blow on your horn and all ye dead rise up to be judged,

One of the things that drew me to this book was James Baldwin's foreword:

We have seen this life from the point of view of a black boy growing into a menaced and probably brief manhood I don't know that we have ever seen it from the point of view of a black girl on the edge of a terrifying womanhood.


Daddy Was a Number Runner is the coming of age story of Francie Coffin, a young girl living in Harlem with her family who are struggling to get by, both financially and as a Black family in America.


This is a novel that looks closely at community how it is simultaneously loving and supportive but also a place of apathy, violence, and abuse.
While Francie is trying to navigate her way through puberty, the men around her are trying to use her body for their own sexual gratification, be it touching her body in exchange for goods/money, or directly trying to take her virginity.
Within the first few pages of the book, Meriwether details a man who exposes himself to Francie, seemingly every time he sees her, and this also happens to the other girls of her age in her neighbourhood.
This is all told through this young girl's eyes, so there is an aspect of innocence and confusion as to what is happening to her.
On top of all of that, she is also trying to understand her own sexuality, exploring it through pornographic comic strips that she shares with her friends.
This is handled so brilliantly by Meriwether as she deals with Francie's conflicting emotions regarding what the men are doing to her without ever placing the blame on her.


I love the way in which the book explores family relationships, particularly the ways in which they shift as a child grows up and becomes more aware of the subtle family dynamics that they weren't aware of when they were younger.
It's very quickly established that Francie is closer to her dad, who she calls Daddy, whereas she calls her mum the more formal Mother.
Her father is more lenient with her, not disciplining her the same way that he does her older brothers, while on the other hand, her mother is strict, making Francie run errands that embarrass her, and Francie often states that her mother feels like a stranger to her.
However, as Francie gets older, these dynamics begin to change, and she comes to understand that the love she receives from her parents are indeed different but, ultimately, that her mother's love is more substantial and consistent.
I really loved the way Meriwether portrayed this she doesn't do it with loud, dramatic scenes where feelings are overtly stated.
Instead, she shows it gradually through small, seemingly insignificant moments, and how they make Francie feel, which I thought was much more effective and realistic.


The majority of the book focuses on the Coffin family and their small community, but she also touches on topics such as police brutality, riots, gangs, and systemic racism.
So many moments from those scenes could be transplanted into the news today and they wouldn't feel out of place.
Baldwin said: Louise Meriwether has told everyone who can read or feel what it means to be a black man or a woman in this country, and that still stands today's America n.
I think this classic should be recommended in the same breath as other coming of age stories such as A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and To Kill a Mockingbird.
I've share this book with so many friends after I read it, it was brilliantly written, For my friends it reminded them of a time in their lives when things seem simple, For me, it painted a picture of a culture and a way of life my family never lived, It was very eyeopening to me, It's a Harlem that I will never see but was able to experience through the writing of Louise Meriwether.
Francies story touched my heart, I wanted her to leaveth Avenue, away from “the struggle” but thats really what I loved about the book so much.
She was not a victim but a hero in so many ways, As ayear old growing up during the Great Depression, life was hard, And it sucked that Blacks were treated so poorly even when they tried to make an earnest living, Francie was just a little girl trying to navigate through the good and very bad parts of her environment.
Her dad ran numbers and when that didnt work, turned to other odd jobs, Her mother was resilient learning early on that she could not be too proud to ask for help, eventually getting herself a job and applying for relief, what we now call welfare.
Her brothers were smart men dealt different cards from the very beginning James Junior wasnt a fan of school and wasnt interested in college like his brother, Sterling.
James Junior felt more comfortable running with the notorious gang, Ebony Earls devastating his family, Francie wanted to keep the family together, Because she was the youngest, she was often tormented by the neighborhood kids, She accepted this punishment as a way of life and kept daydreaming about life outside ofth Ave,

I wanted to rescue Francie from the disgusting grown men who lurked in the stairwells, on the streets and inside the grocery stores.
She wasnt safe at all and each day was a new battle, I admire her drive and precious inquiring mind, Although this book is fiction, I rooted for Francie the whole way and hope that she made it out.
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