Children of Strikers by Fred Chappell
"Children of Strikers" is a story by Fred Chappell that explores the lives of two children living in the economically troubled community of Fiberville, a small settlement tied to the nearby paper mill. The narrative unfolds on a gray day as the children, a boy and a girl, walk along a riverbank, engaging in play that reveals their curiosity and innocence amid challenging circumstances. The girl discovers a baby's foot, sparking a conversation filled with dark speculation about its origins, reflecting the children's attempt to understand the complexities of adult life and the struggles around them.
As they discuss the mutilation of the doll's foot, they delve into themes of violence and the mystery of their parents' unhappiness, hinting at deeper societal issues impacting their community. The boy's insistence that an adult must have been involved in the act demonstrates their grappling with the reality that adults can harbor anger and make choices that adversely affect children. Through their exploration, the story captures a poignant moment of childhood innocence clashing with the harsh realities of their environment, inviting readers to consider the broader implications of social strife on the younger generation.
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Children of Strikers by Fred Chappell
First published: 1980
Type of plot: Social realism
Time of work: The late twentieth century
Locale: A mill village in the South
Principal Characters:
A twelve-year-old girl A younger boy , her companion
The Story
On a gray day, two poor children trudge along a riverbank path that leads away from their homes in Fiberville, a cluster of bungalows named for the paper mill where the adults work. The girl occasionally picks up pieces of trash from the ground and examines them. When the boy sees her put something in her pocket, he insists on seeing it. She refuses, however, and when he dashes at her, she slaps him. They walk on.
Eventually, the girl gives her companion a hint. She has found a baby's foot, she says. Excited, the boy begins to speculate about how the foot was cut off of the baby. Perhaps, he thinks, some girl was forced by a boyfriend to kill her baby and cut it up. Now that the girl has the boy's interest aroused, she tries to strike a bargain with him and asks what he will give her if she shows him her find. The boy admits that he does not have anything to offer. He suggests that she does not either and that she is making up her story about the baby's foot.
To prove the boy wrong, the girl shows him the foot. When the boy realizes that the foot belonged to a doll, not a real baby, he angrily knocks it out of her hand. After the girl picks it up again, the children examine it together, trying to guess why someone would mutilate a doll in this way. The cut is so clean that the boy insists that the act was carefully planned—not the result of an impulse—so that it must have been performed by an adult. With evident delight, he tries to imagine what tool was used—a knife or a meat cleaver—and he again insists that an adult was involved. Finally, the girl agrees with him.
Turning back toward the settlement, the children consider other mysteries in their lives, particularly their parents' unhappiness and the presence of angry outsiders in the neighborhood. Although they do not understand exactly what is happening in Fiberville, the children sense that the same kind of anger that would cause a man to cut off a doll's foot has now taken control of their families and their community.