Who is Carmena Boone from Lost in the City: Stories and what is their importance? Lost_in_the_City English & Literature Carmena Boone | Lost in the City: Stories

Carmena Boone lives in an apartment complex near several other women. She is presented as a middle-aged black woman who is typical of her economic status and is obviously charitable to her neighbors. She enjoys the companionship of various other women in her apartment complex. Carmena's situation suggests that she is living somewhere near the poverty line and her employment status is not clarified in the story. Carmena has had a close and lengthy relationship with a neighbor named Ida Garrett for many years. Over the past few years, however, Ida's incessant criticism and harping has driven a significant wedge between the two women and during the period discussed by the story, they do not spend much time together. During one violent altercation, Carmena invites several neighbors into her apartment where they pass the hours of the storm in conversation. Ida joins them because she is afraid of the noise and flashes. Later in the evening, the other neighbors return home but Ida and Carmena retreat into Carmena's bathroom, which is the quietest room in the place. They sit in the dark and stuff towels under the door to seal out the storm's sounds. The two women sit in a strained semi-silence as Carmena contemplates their estranged friendship.