Dobys Gone

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Dobys Gone

• Short story by Ann Petry
• Presentation by
• Abi Drain Brooke Spake

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Who is Ann Petry?

• Ann Lane Petry was born on October 12, 1908 in
  Old Saybrook, Connecticut
• First began writing in high school
• Graduated from Connecticut College of Pharmacy in
  1931 with a Ph.D
• Left her career in pharmacy to marry George D.
  Petry, a New York mystery writer, in 1938
• Finally began writing!

http//aalbc.com/authors/annpetry.htm
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Work as a writer

• Amsterdam News selling ad space
• First story, "Marie of the Cabin Club," was
  published in the Afro-American
• under the pseudonym Arnold Petry
• Claimed she was saving her own name for her more
  "serious" work
• Reporter for the People's Voice
• Founded Negro Women, Inc.
• Crisis magazine

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What did she write?

• The Street
• Country Place
• The Narrows
• Miss Muriel and Other Stories
• Tituba of Salem Village
• Legends of the Saints
• The Drugstore Cat
• Harriet Tubman Conductor of the Underground
  Railroad

http//voices.cla.umn.edu/vg/Bios/entries/petry_an
n.html
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Dobys GoneOverview

• Story is about Sue, a little girl that has an
  imaginary friend named Doby.
• She takes Doby with her to school.
• Sue is treated badly at school because she is
  black.
• She temporarily puts up with the mistreatment
  from the children.
• The children at school corner her into a fight in
  which Sue fights back.
• When the fight is over, she realizes that Doby is
  gone.
• Is accompanied home by two of the children that
  teased her at school.

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Characters

• Sue Johnson
• Main Character
• Has imaginary Friend
• Mrs. Johnsons Daughter
• Mrs. Johnson
• Sues Mother
• Takes Sue to her New School

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Characters

• Miss Whittier
• Teacher
• Kind
• Becomes Sues friend
• Students
• Cruel
• Bully and Taunt Sue because she is black

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Characters Continued

• Jimmie Piebald
• Red headed boy
• Cruel to Sue
• Walks home with her at the end of the story
• Daisy Bell
• Little Girl who sticks her tongue out at Sue on
  the first day of school
• Walks home with her at the end of the story

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Doby

• Sues Imaginary Friend
• Represents innocence
• Goes everywhere with Sue
• Disappears after the fight

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Title Meaning

• The title Dobys Gone represents when Sue is
  able to stand on her own without Doby.

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Narration

• Anonymous Narration
• Outside observer
• Tone is Neutral
• Narrator is reliable
• Unbiased
• Objective Standpoint- Simply stating the facts

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Opening/Ending

• In the beginning of Dobys Gone Sue Johnson is
  very naïve unaware of the racial cruelty around
  her. She goes into the first grade having an
  imaginary friend that is her constant companion.
  She does not see herself as being different from
  the other children.
• In the end of the story Sue fights the children
  therefore gaining their respect and friendship.
  She is finally able to stand on her own without
  Dobys accompaniment.

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Transformations

• Sue
• Experiences the cruelty of society
• Matures and gains respect of classmates
• Outgrows her imaginary friend
• Doby
• Disappears because Sue has outgrown him and makes
  friends with the school children.
• Sue plants her feet She can now stand on her
  own and no longer needs Doby

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Themes

• Racial differences
• Sue is not aware of racial differences because
  she has never been exposed to racial cruelty
  until she went to school.
• Childhood innocence
• Sue has an innocence about her because she has
  kept Doby, an imaginary friend, a part of her
  life from the time she was two to the first
  grade.
• Finding inner strength
• Sue is able to fight back on her own without
  Doby and finds her place with the school
  children.

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Allusions

• Did not find any

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Symbols

• Teacher
• Kindness, a mother-like figure to Sue
• Doby
• Innocence/ child-like thinking and fun
• The school children
• Societys cruelty

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Authors Goal

• Relay first hand experiences
• Open the readers eyes
• Uses innocent children with learned behaviors
  from society
• Neutrally portray racial indifferences

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Personal Reactions

• Abi
• Thrown for a loop at first
• Sad
• Realistic

• Brooke
• Sad
• Realistic

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Works Cited

• http//voices.cla.umn.edu/vg/Bios/entries/petry_an
  n.html
• http//aalbc.com/authors/annpetry.htm