'The Importance Of Robby In Our Time'

Everyone has their struggles in life and Wideman’s main character in “Our Time”, Robby is no different. It all starts with the death of his street brother Garth, at first the reader doesn’t understand why this was the turning point in Robby’s life. However, we soon see how much Garth meant to Robby. Yet, while Robby plays a prominent role in this story he is not the main focus throughout the story. Also, Robby as a narrator is not the only one speaking. Wideman was brilliant to do this because you see Robby’s story through the point of view of others people. Overall, I really related to this piece. It may be because Robby and his story inspires me. However, it may also be because as I read on I continue to relate to Weidman more and more. When
He describes the hospital as, “Hospital smell and quiet, the bare halls and bare floors, the echoes, something about all that he can’t name. wouldn’t try to name, rises in him and chills him” (423). I am happy they are around because they do save a lot of people’s lives, but it has such an eerie feeling to it when someone you love isn’t going to be one of the one’s saved. Robby states that by the time Garth got to the hospital there was “Nothing let of Garth to treat. They hid his messy death under white sheets, perfumed it disinfectant, pumped him full of drugs so he wouldn’t disturb his neighbors” (424). When I read this sentence, this entire piece actually for the first time I felt like Wideman was just reading my mind because a very similar situation happened to my aunt. Now I am not saying that the systems during Garth’s time and the current time are both corrupt, but I think depending on where you go, there may still be racism, which is what I believe Wideman was trying to point out by including this. My aunt switched hospitals because the new hospital was supposed to have better treating for her condition, but the doctors took too long to fully diagnose and give her treatment even though the other hospital told them she had stage four cancer. They gave up trying to help her and like Garth ended trying to cover up the messy situation. Why should the race of a person matter? Doctors are meant to help people, so you
Robby’s stories were crucial for John because even though John and Robby were at the same places and did things together, there are a lot of differences in their memories. “My memories needed his. Maybe the fact that we recall different things is crucial. Maybe they are foreground and background, propping what he’s saved and it’s not mine, not what I saw or heard or felt” (453). When John says this it seems as if his mind was really repressing a lot of the memories he had and Robby talking about the events were the push he really needed to let his thoughts flow free. He states, “His story freeing me, because it forces me to tell my own” (453). It is not always to admit to yourself that you have a past full of memories-some which you may not be proud about, which could be why John repressed his. However, now that he hears Robby’s recollection of the events he can no longer hold back. It is amazing that they are linked and have that much of a bond. Simple words can bring about years of