Sandra K. Friday
"Little Things are Big"
by Jesus Colon is about a black Puerto Rican who worries that if he tries to help a white woman with her small children to get off a somewhat deserted New York subway train at midnight, she may scream, thinking, because he is a black man, he is going to mug her or hurt her, and he is so frozen by his fear that he just lets her struggle. "But how could I, a Negro and a Puerto Rican, approach this white lady who very likely might have preconceived prejudices against Negroes and everybody with foreign accents, in a deserted subway station very late at night?" (Au, 113) But then, after she has gone, he feels terrible that he disavowed his own culture that would never ignore a woman in need. He vows that if he ever gets another opportunity to help a woman, no matter what the outcome, he will do it. "But here is a promise that I make to myself here and now; if I am ever faced with an occasion like that again, I am going to offer my help regardless of how the offer is going to be received. Then I will have my courtesy with me again." (Au, 113) Struggling to liberate himself from the fear of racism, his feelings change considerably in the course of this short, short story and his voice reflects this change.
The two short stories, "The Parable of the Eagle," or "Little Things are Big," give students another opportunity to practice answering the second CAPT question, "What do you think is the most important passage in the story? What does it mean and why is it important to the story?"