Structure

The short story “Me and Mr. Harry” by Batya Swift Yasgur is structured around a dramatic event in a young girl’s life: her relationship with an older man is stopped by her…

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Beginning

In the exposition, the author introduces readers to the main character – a young girl – and also presents the intrigue: the girl is called in a room next to the principal’s office, where a social worker is going to interrogate her again:

And isn’t it just like my parents to mess it all u…

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Middle

The rising action begins with a flashback related to the narrator’s family life:

Mommy comes home early every night now. She never used to. Used to work all the time, and I’d let myself in with the key. Made myself cereal and milk and the TV kept me company till she came home. Then it was why didn’t I do my homework, and why didn’t I make my bed, and why didn’t I sweep. Oh, and why didn’t I set the table, didn’t I know what a long day she had, and how hard she and Daddy work. (ll. 22-27)

The girl also reveals that her father mostly ignores her and that neither of her parents is concerned with the girl’s problems at school: “And I used to lie there wondering whether my math teacher would yell at me again for getting the wrong answer, or my science teacher would laugh at me for my ‘stupid’ mistakes.” (ll. 28-30)

A flashback reveals more about the girl’s relationship with the man she calls …

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Ending

Towards the end of the story, the narrator presents the efforts that authorities make to force her to testify against Mr. Harry and to assess her mental state:

More dumb doctors. One asks lots of questions, you know, some kind of a test (…) Boxes to fill in, shapes to complete, splatters of ink in some cards, and he wants to know what they look like to me. My mou…