Summary

The short story "The Park" by James Matthews begins with the unnamed main character, a person of color, who watches white children playing happily in a park. He is on the outside of the park and is looking at the merry-go-round and the swings and other rides. Some of the boys notice him. They throw a handful of clay at him and shout mean words. More boys come to the fence, and the main character decides to simply walk away.

While he continues walking to his destination, the main character remembers the last time he went into the park. He thinks about how he and a white boy had played on a see-saw until the attendant of the park stopped them. The attendant asked him to leave because of the council’s rules: people of color cannot play in that park, only white people can. The main character continues thinking about the park rule and doesn’t understand why he isn’t allowed to play there. To him, the only impo...