Outcasts

Many of the characters in these stories are outcasts and misfits, seemingly doomed to forever be on the outside of society looking in. Miss Amelia is a classic outcast in this mold in "Ballad of the Sad Cafe," distanced from people, a hermit who stays inside and can only relate to people when she engages them in lawsuits for petty matters. The arrival of Cousin Lymon literally opens her home, and also her heart, as for the first time she finds that she loves someone. However, Lymon does not reciprocate; we are told love is always a matter of unbalanced forces. When Lymon breaks Amelia's heart by leaving with her hated ex-husband and trashing her cafe, the symbol for her blossoming sociability, it's as if human connection is impossible for Amelia, or that it can only end in betrayal and sadness.

In "Madame Zilensky," the titular character creates...