Trash: Short Stories

Trash: Short Stories
Author	Dorothy Allison
Language	English
Subject	Short story anthology
Published	1988
Publisher	Firebrand Books (1988), Penguin (1990); Plume (2002)
Pages	219
Awards	1989 Lambda Literary Award for Best Lesbian Small Press Book; 1989 Lambda Literary Award for Best Lesbian Fiction
ISBN	9780452283510
OCLC	49525897

Trash: Short Stories is a short story collection by Dorothy Allison, was first published in 1988 by Firebrand Books, later by Penguin (1990) and Plume (2002). It won the 1989 Lambda Literary Award for "Best Lesbian Small Press Book" and the Lambda Literary Award "Best Lesbian Fiction".

Contents[]

River of Names
Meanest Woman Ever Left Tennessee
Mama
Gospel Song
I'm Working On My Charm
Steal Away
Monkeybites
Don't Tell Me You Don't Know
Demon Lover
Her Thighs
Muscles of the Mind
Violence Against Women Begins at Home
A Lesbian Appetite
Lupus

Re-release[]

The re-release by Plume in 2002 contained a new short-story:

Compassion

The 2002 re-release also included Deciding to Live: Preface to the First Edition, which details the transformation Allison goes through after a fight she has had with her lover, and her mother's reaction to her. It showcases Allison's beginning as a writer, a time when she wrote as a way to escape the monotony of her job as a low-level government clerk. Detailing the reasons for which she has decided to live, Allison reveals the underlying truth behind her stories and the reasons for which she writes fiction.

Themes[]

Allison's short stories address themes such as: strength, cycles of poverty, identity, aggression, mother/daughter relationships, survival.

Survival: Allison's short story "Mama" showcases the correlation between abuse and poverty and what one must to do keep alive. Jack, the step-father, abuses the narrator and her mother. This abuse stems from the stress of Jack's unemployment. The lack of a steady pay labels the family as a lower economic household. The narrator's mother wants to leave Jack. We find this out in the short story "Don't Tell Me You Don't Know". The narrator quotes, "Some people get raped at eleven by a stepfather their mama half hates but can't afford to leave" (Allison, 105). This quote and different abuse instincts throughout "Mama" show us how the narrator's mother had to choose between an abusive household or homelessness. Both outcomes are undesirable. The mother used her survival instincts to choose the one that would keep her family alive.

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