Jones: ‘Bad Neighbors’

 Edward P. Jones’s “Bad Neighbors” is a wonder: so many surprises in a short story.

I thought it was going to be about the sociology of a Black middle-class neighborhood in Washington, D.C. The story opens when the Benningtons, renters, move into a neighborhood of homeowners. Had they been white, the Benningtons might have been the Joads. Some people have trouble finding a place where they’re welcome.

But the story surprises. Like the Parable of the Good Samaritan, the story is about how difficult it is for us to love our neighbor — and how difficult it is to see who loves us. The thing that that should be the most obvious is the very thing that escapes us.

One of the kids in the neighborhood, Sharon, is a high school student who is just discovering her magical ability to buckle the knees of boys.

Her family considers what a good catch might look like. The question of each suitor’s capacity to love, and what that might look like — well, that’s a different question. Jones is good at showing why that question is worth asking.

I’m going to look for more of Edward P. Jones. And thanks, Christopher, for the recommendation.

• Source: Edward P. Jones, “Bad Neighbors”; The New Yorker, July 30, 2006. It’s here:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/08/07/bad-neighbors