Essay Questions

What real life incident provides the backdrop for the titular story about young Harlem Jones?

Throughout the story bearing his name, Harlem Jones is constantly referencing the name Mark Duggan. Duggan is a real-life historical made infamous by being shot and killed by police in Tottenham, England. The factual details of the incident verged considerably from the official police report and the addition of questionable journalism on the part of the media coverage of the case created a volatile situation which eventually erupted into riots across London. This is the background that leads Harlem to the point of frustration which ignites around round of violence.

In “Shu Yi” what is deeply ironic about the shield/motto of the public school the narrator and the title character attend?

The red-and-black emblem on shield of the school features kookaburra along with the school motto PLAY THE GAME. The kookaburra is a bird native to Australia which makes a sound that is often used in movies to underline the visuals that the story is taking place in a jungle even when the jungles are thousands of miles away from then nearest kookaburra. It is an instantly recognizable sound even to those who have never heard of the bird before. In fact, it almost sounds like the laughing of monkey and perhaps this is why the kookaburra has come to symbolize joy, happiness, enthusiasm, and optimism. Taken together, the bird and the motto combine to send the message that the public school is a fun place to be, a safe haven from the dangers of the outside world. The actual events of the story will prove this to be a completely ironic message as the games which the students play at the expensive of Shu Yi are cruel and lacking in any genuine sense of joy as they are not inspired by the pursuit of happiness.

What character from an earlier story shows up in "The Sukiyaki book Club" as a “character” in a story written by the narrator of this story?

The concluding story of the collection is titled “The Sukiyaki Book Club” and it is a first-person account by an unnamed character who is a writer. Toward the end of this complex experiment in perspective, the narrator begins reading emails sent to her by potential publishers rejecting her work. It is at this point that Harlem Jones rejoins the collection, only this time it is clearly indicated he is a fictional creation rather than maintaining the illusion of his in-story reality. Harlem steps outside of his own story to become an object of concern for his creator as the result of an editor questioning whether he could be—as written-acceptable to readers. The editor then goes on to posit an alternative route for the story of “Harlem Jones” that is substantially different from the one which shows up earlier. What if, the writer of the rejection e-mail muses, instead of ending the story with Harlem tossing a Molotov cocktail, the story were rewritten so that the Mark Duggan case and the resulting Tottenham riots became a wake-up call that set the angry young black man on the “straight and narrow?”