Over Our Way
Over Our Way is a collection of 18 short stories, most set in the West Indies and all written by various Caribbean authors, and edited by authors Jean D'Costa and Velma Pollard. It was first published by Longman Publishers in 1980, with a total of twenty impressions, the most recent one being in 2009.
The stories are listed below, with their authors and a brief synopsis for each, and the tropes present in each.
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Millicent (Merle Hodge)
A new student enters Fourth Standard at a school in Trinidad, and proceeds to upset the status quo.
- Cool People Rebel Against Authority: The titular character does this with the form teacher.
- How the Mighty Have Fallen
- Kids Are Cruel
- Pride Before a Fall: The teacher's warning to Millicent.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: The teacher.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Money
- Villain Protagonist: Millicent.
The Bicycle (Jean D'Costa)
A young boy gets a bicycle around the same time his grandfather has a stroke. Then the grandpa, now senile, wanders off...
- Berserk Button: Don't make insults about Ernest's fat--er, muscle.
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Narrator: The last boy who made the mistake of calling out something about "fatty from the circus" is now going to another school. |
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- The Determinator: Ernest rides his bicycle all over Kingston to find his grandfather when the old man runs away from home.
- It Runs in The Family: Ernest's big frame comes from his mother, and his maternal uncle is likewise overweight.
Casuarina Row (John Wickham)
Two children engage in weekly make-believe meetings.
The Statehood Sacrifice (Ronnie Saunders)
A young girl makes a heavy sacrifice for the sake of her family.
Amy and I (Mark Alleyne)
Two girls accidentally break a window while playing, and make efforts to cover it up.
Peeta of the Deep Sea (Michael Anthony)
A sentient fish has an encounter with a mysterious deep-sea predator.
- Downer Ending
- Eldritch Abomination: The Monster is this to Peeta and his kind. It's actually a fisherman's net.
The Devils of Rose Hall (Jean D'Costa)
A pastor accepts a bet to spend a night in Jamaica's most infamous haunted house.
- Schmuck Bait: The dare to stay at the Rose Hall Great House.
The Water Woman and Her Lover (Ralph Prince)
A man becomes entranced by a mysterious river maiden.
- Too Dumb to Live: The man is given a chance to be rich, on condition that he tells nobody about his newly-gotten wealth, otherwise he will have to be with the river maiden forever. Guess what he does when he finds the wealth in his house afterward?
Jeffie Lemmington and Me (Merle Hodge)
A young boy leaves Trinidad to join his family overseas, and while there encounters racism.
My Mother (Velma Pollard)
A Jamaican girl chronicles her relationship with her physically-distant mother.
The Legend of Talon (Calvin Watson)
A legendary criminal reminisces on his life of infamy even as he eludes a police dragnet.
- Calling the Old Man Out: Near the end of the story.
- I Am Not My Father: Why Talon's son became a policeman.
- Laser-Guided Karma: The titular character is shot dead by a son born from one of his past rapes.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Talon's real name is never given.
- Villain Protagonist: Talon.
Carlton (Velma Pollard)
Two young people from different classes of life embark on a forbidden love affair.
- Downer Ending
Heart Man (Millis D. Nichols)
While taking lunch to his father, a boy has a terrifying encounter.
The Owl and the Poodledog (Judy Stone)
A paperboy aids a girl in retrieving a dog that has escaped from her yard.
- Precious Puppies: Coffee.
Anancy and Mongoose (Velma Pollard)
One of the many tales of Jamaica's spider-trickster of folklore.
The Paddy-Man (David King)
Residents of a small neighborhood engage in a dispute with a traveling peddler.
Ascot (Olive Senior)
A young trickster sets out to fulfill his dream of dressing in white and driving a big white car.
- Blatant Lies: Ascot specializes in these.
- Disappeared Dad: Nobody knows who Ascot's real father is.
- The Masquerade: In Ascot, when Ascot returns to the village with his wife, he asks Lilly (the narrator) to pretend that she is his cousin and that her family is his family. It doesn't last very long, though.
- Parental Obliviousness: Ascot's mother.
- So Proud of You: Ascot's mother feels this way toward him at the end of the story.
- Villain Protagonist: Ascot.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: Both Ascot and his mother qualify.
Bus Strike (Jean D'Costa)
A schoolboy makes his way home during a bus strike.