Julie Steinberg

September 11, 2014

C&T 5037
Reflection: Short Stories
Trash by Dorothy Alison

Understanding Identities

I chose to read stories from Trash, by Dorothy Alison, because I was drawn to the
description of the book by Professor Ghiso as filled with emotions. The books online
blurb on Amazon described Alison as fearlessly honest and startlingly vivid. I was
ready and excited to read her stories and feel her emotions alongside of her. Emotions are
universal; one can often connect to and relate to anothers emotions. I consider myself to
be thoughtful and perceptive about others, as well as sensitive and empathetic towards
others emotions. I tend to find ways to relate and connect to people. But as I began
reading Trash, I realized making a connection to someone with a completely different
identity can be a challenge. I may be empathetic and understanding as person, and as a
reader, but I still may never truly understand. It was her experiences that generated such
strong emotions from Dorothy Alison. These are experiences I have never shared. While
I think I may understand Alison as I read, and even feel her emotions, I also see that I
cannot relate to them. As a teacher, it is important to be especially mindful of our
connections with and understanding of our children, or lack there of.
Through Dorothy Alisons introduction I began to see and hear her. As she
described her identity, a Southern white woman from a desperately poor family, with an
uneducated mother and no father, I could barely relate to even one of those pieces of
Alison. We are both white, but our backgrounds and locations are widely different. On
the very first page of her introduction, she shares a powerful message: The fact, the
inescapable impact of being born in a condition of poverty that this society finds

shameful, contemptible, and somehow oddly deserved, has had dominion over me to such
an extent that I have spent my life trying to overcome or deny it. My familys lives were
not on television, not in books, not even comic books (Alison vii). I couldnt help but
wonder about what I have spent my life doing. I have been building an identity through
experiences and stories, not trying to escape or deny one. I have identified myself and my
family with characters in books and on television, but how many of my students will be
able to say the same? When reading Alisons words, I made strong connections to
Stephanie Jones discussion of the identity of poor, and how meanings of poverty vary
greatly, from Chapter 2 of Girls, Social Class, and Literacy, as well as Chimanada Ngozi
Adichies warning of the single story of poor. I made connections between others who
could relate to one another, but my own identity keeps me from completely being able to
relate to them.
Dorothy Alisons stories in Trash show us some of the ways her identity has
developed, and been misunderstood and misrepresented. Throughout her childhood,
Alison was told to Push it down. Dont show it. Dont tell anyone what is going on (37).
I found it eye-opening the fear, injustice, and wrong that she had to keep inside, until she
was able to express it maybe even release it in her stories. Alison and her stories are
not only an example of the people in poverty whom Bell Hooks described as critical
thinkers struggling to transform their circumstances, (Hooks 172) but also of the power
of story and telling ones story. Alisons stories shape her life and her identity, and telling
them helps her accept this identity, as well as overcome it.
As a reader, I felt the emotions of Dorothy Alison, as she lived in challenging
circumstances and experienced horrible things, that no one, no race or class of people,

deserves. I admire the way she reflects on her identity and, in a way, heals through her
stories. I know I am fortunate that I will never relate to her experiences and how she felt,
but I can be aware of them and understand them. In the same way, I must be aware of the
diverse set of identities my students will bring into my classroom. Maybe I will never
connect or relate directly to their experiences and identities, but it is my responsibility to
understand them, so that all children can feel represented.