Gold Coast by James Alan McPherson
"Gold Coast" by James Alan McPherson is a poignant narrative centered around Robert, a young Black aspiring writer working as a janitor in a deteriorating apartment building near Harvard Square, once a symbol of affluence. The story unfolds primarily through Robert’s relationship with James Sullivan, an elderly Irish janitor who has retired but remains a mentor figure. Their interactions reveal themes of racial and cultural identity, as Robert navigates his aspirations and the complexities of his environment, while Sullivan grapples with nostalgia and resentment for his past.
Robert finds satisfaction in his job, using it as a backdrop for his writing ambitions, even as he deals with the mundane lives of the building’s tenants. His romantic involvement with Jean, a wealthy girl who encourages him to be authentic, introduces further emotional depth and tension. As the narrative evolves, both Robert and Sullivan face personal struggles that culminate in a sense of loss and disillusionment. The story captures the intersection of race, class, and artistic identity against the backdrop of societal changes in the late 1960s, reflecting the challenges and aspirations of its characters in a shifting cultural landscape.
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Gold Coast by James Alan McPherson
First published: 1968
Type of plot: Social realism
Time of work: The late 1960's
Locale: Cambridge, Massachusetts
Principal Characters:
Robert , a young black man, an aspiring writer working as a janitorJames Sullivan , his supervisor and friendMeg Sullivan , his wifeJean , his rich, white girlfriendMiss O'Hara , a tenant in Robert's building and Sullivan's enemy
The Story
Robert, a young, black aspiring writer, supports himself by working as a janitor in a Cambridge, Massachusetts, apartment building. In "the days of the Gold Coast," the old building near Harvard Square had been a haven for the rich; later, poet-novelist Conrad Aiken lived there; now, it is rather run-down. Even seedier is Robert's predecessor, James Sullivan, an elderly Irishman who has been forced to retire. Sullivan lives in the building with Meg, his half-mad wife, and their smelly, barking dog. He is technically Robert's supervisor, and most of the story concerns their relationship.
Robert likes being a janitor because he is confident of a bright future as a writer, and he also enjoys making the white liberals he meets at parties uncomfortable by talking enthusiastically about his duties, which include, he insists, being able "to spot Jews and Negroes who are passing." His youth and confidence make him pity Sullivan: "He had been in that building thirty years and had its whole history recorded in the little folds of his mind, as his own life was recorded in the wrinkles of his face." Sullivan acts the role of an all-knowing mentor forever dispensing advice to his young "assistant." Excessively proud of his Irish heritage, he repeats stories of sitting in bars with James Michael Curley, the longtime boss of Democratic politics in Boston, and of knowing Frank O'Connor when the Irish writer taught at Harvard.
Robert considers one of the pleasures of his job the opportunity to find material, assuming "that behind each of the fifty or so doors in our building lived a story which could, if I chose to grace it with the magic of my pen, become immortal." However, the tenants prove too ordinary to supply what he needs; even going through their garbage reveals little of interest. Sullivan tries to help by surveying the evidence but can conclude only that "Jews are the biggest eaters in the world." Robert thinks that Sullivan does not really hate Jews but simply resents "anyone better off than himself." Ironically, Sullivan's antagonist is Irish. Miss O'Hara hates the Sullivans for reasons Robert never discovers. She accuses the former janitor of never being sober and has been trying to get him fired for twenty-five years. She also conducts a campaign to have the couple's dog removed from the building.
In addition to his writing, Robert's main interest is his relationship with Jean, "a very lovely girl who was not first of all a black." He likes being with her because she does not expect him to play a role, as so many in the turmoil of the late 1960's are doing. She wants him only to be himself and to write: "Like many of the artistically inclined rich, she wanted to own in someone else what she could not own in herself. But this I did not mind, and I forgave her for it because she forgave me moods and the constant smell of garbage and a great deal of latent hostility." She resents, however, his wasting his time with Sullivan, who, chased by Meg to a filthy sofa in the basement, calls Robert at two o'clock in the morning to drink with him. Robert admires Sullivan for being well-read and able to spew out his diatribes against hippies and the medical profession in well-constructed sentences.
Chaos enters the lives of Robert and Sullivan at about the same time. When Robert's affair with Jean ends, he writes little and no longer enjoys his other work, because he is "really a janitor for the first time." When Miss O'Hara finally succeeds in having the Sullivans' dog taken away, Meg's madness and her husband's sad loneliness increase. To appease Meg, Robert writes a letter from a New Hampshire farmer telling the Sullivans how happy their dog is living with him. After carrying it about for days searching for someone with New Hampshire license plates to ask to mail the letter, Sullivan tears it up.
Deciding that he can no longer be a janitor "because there is no job more demeaning," Robert moves out. He later sees Sullivan in a crowd in Harvard Square but decides not to speak to him. This episode in his life is over.