Henningfeld is an associate professor at Adrian College who writes widely on literary topics for educational publishers. In the following essay, she examines the protagonist's fear of adulthood in "Residents and Transients."

Bobbie Ann Mason's short story, "Residents and Transients," first appeared in the Boston Review in 1982, shortly before its inclusion in the collection, Shiloh and Other Stories. The volume received high critical praise and several nominations for awards, as well as receiving the Ernest Hemingway Foundation Award in 1983. Readers and critics alike have praised Mason's blunt, straightforward style as well as the way she develops her characters by saying less, rather than more.

"Residents and Transients" has not been anthologized quite so widely as some of Mason's other stories, nor has the story received as much critical attention as her novels. Nevertheless, the story offers a number of interesting features that are worthy of closer examination...