SOURCE: Collins, Grace E. “Narrative Structure in Linden Hills.” CLA Journal 34, no. 3 (March 1991): 290–300.

In the following essay, Collins discusses how the parallel narratives of Willa and Willie in Linden Hills raise questions about how African Americans can live the American Dream without losing their racial identity.

In her second novel, Linden Hills, Gloria Naylor dramatizes the possible negative consequences of achieving the American Dream, an achievement which has eluded most African-Americans for over a century. At a time when education as a means of social mobility is being touted as a savior for African-Americans, Naylor raises serious questions about that means as well as its ends. In the novel, Naylor presents a series of stark vignettes of well-educated, successful, middle-class African-Americans (mostly males) who have achieved the dream at the expense of their racial identities. To emphasize her theme, Naylor employs counterpoint, creating two simultaneous narratives that together...