A Summer Tragedy

Content Warning: This story features discussions and depictions of death by suicide.

“A Summer Tragedy” opens with an elderly Black couple, Jeff and Jennie Patton, dressing up to go on a trip. It is clear from the start that the couple has lived an impoverished life; Jeff no longer has his teeth, while Jennie’s body is “as scrawny and gnarled as a string bean” (349). The couple’s poverty is reinforced by the decay around them. Though Jeff is dressing up in his swallowtailed coat, the coat is “as full of holes as the overalls in which he worked on week days” (349).

Despite their destitute conditions, Jeff and Jennie demonstrate deep love and commitment to one another. He often refers to her as “baby” when he speaks to her. Though Jennie is blind and increasingly frail, she still helps Jeff when he asks her to tie his bow tie, although it is a “slow and painful ordeal for each of them” (350). Jennie’s devotion to Jeff is reinforced by the jealousy she still experiences, which also evokes scenes from earlier in their marriage. In particular, she recalls how Delia Moore used to “grin” at Jeff “long ago when her teeth were good” (353).