The Yellow House

The Yellow House opens with an aerial view of 4121 Wilson Avenue, a plot of land in New Orleans East. From the aerial view, Broom’s brother Carl, or “Rabbit,” is invisible. Carl works in maintenance at NASA. He likes fishing and being by the water. 4121 Wilson Avenue is where Broom’s house used to be. At 19 years old, Broom’s mother Ivory Mae bought the house in 1961. Ivory Mae has twelve children, of whom Broom is the youngest.

Broom searches through history books for mentions of New Orleans East. The books document the French Quarter, the Garden District, and St. Charles Avenue. Yet despite the fact that New Orleans East is one-quarter of the entire city and roughly 50 times the size of the French Quarter, the only references to New Orleans East are in passing. Before Hurricane Katrina, the neighborhood had trailer parks, junkyards and prostitution. People in New Orleans tried to forget this neighborhood, and Broom avoids telling people where she is from.

In 2005, the house is destroyed in Hurricane Katrina. Now it is a plot of land “where instead of a floor there is green grass trying to grow” (18).