Understanding Cordelia From The Outside-In and Inside-Out

In the literary collection FIRE!! Devoted to Younger Negro Artists (1926), Wallace Thurman’s “Cordelia the Crude” bluntly portrays the main character Cordelia as a prostitute in Harlem, New York. From the story’s introduction, we are provided with a third person limited perspective of who Cordelia is— a 16-year-old, light brown-skinned girl from Charleston, South Carolina…

Taste through Time

The notion of “taste” has been a constant thread throughout reading The Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown and Cordelia the Crude by William Thurman. Although they are in very different phases of life, Henry figuring out the logistics of how he will escape his life as a slave and Cordelia navigating her…

Cordelia’s Game of Life

In Cordelia the Crude, author Wallace Thurman creates a “me vs. you” environment both for the readers and the narrator. Cordelia’s entire life is described as a long battle that she is neither winning nor losing. It is difficult for the reader to pinpoint where Cordelia stands in her life, which presents a mind game…