Wolf Whistle is a novel inspired by real events witnessed by the author, Lewis Nordan, in 1955 in Mississippi. A black teenager named Emmett "Bobo" Till was murdered for allegedly wolf-whistling at a white woman. He had been visiting Mississippi from Chicago and wasn't fully aware of the cultural "rules" regarding racial interactions in the South at this time.
This event made such an impact on Lewis Nordan that he had to write a novel about it. The story is fictionalized, but the character of Bobo is based on the real Emmett Till. He is charming and fun to be around and claims to have a girlfriend back in Chicago (when really he just has a photo of Heddy Lamarr that he shows everyone). He is a typical fourteen-year-old in every way and is a gregarious, outgoing guy, making it all the more heartbreaking when he is brutally killed for crossing the invisible and arbitrary line of race.
Bobo is not the protagonist of this novel, but he is the focal point. Everything that happens in the novel is connected to his gruesome murder, and every other character is affected by it.
No comments:
Post a Comment