Gorilla, My Love

Set in modern-day New York, African-American author, activist and documentarian Toni Cade Bambara’s short story “Gorilla, My Love” (1971) follows a Hazel, a young African-American girl who recounts two defining incidents from her past in which the adults in her life prove to be unreliable. As Hazel articulates why she believes adults are dishonest and disrespectful toward children, she comes of age and learns a profound life lesson in trust. “Gorilla, My Love” was originally published in a 1971 issue of Redbook Magazine under the title “I ain’t Playin, I’m Hurtin.” The following year, Gorilla, My Love became the title of Bambara’s first short story collection. Saturday Review called the story "among the best portraits of black life to have appeared in some time” and the Chicago Daily News claimed, "Ms. Bambara grabs you by the throat...she dazzles, she charms."

Narrated from the first-person perspective of a young African-American girl whose name is revealed as Hazel at the end, the story begins in contemporary New York City. Hazel is riding in a car with her Granddaddy Vale, her uncle, Hunca Bubba, and her younger brother, Baby Jason. As the family returns from the South on a pecan picking trip, Granddaddy Vale drives the car; Hazel, designated as the navigational “scout,” rides in the passenger seat. Hunca Bubba and Baby Jason sit in the backseat with the containers of dirty pecans. Hazel is upset with Uncle Bubba because he has announced that he is getting married and will change his name back to his birth name, Jefferson Winston Vale. Hunca Bubba won’t stop talking about his bride-to-be and how much he loves her. As the family continues to drive, Hazel gives up her duties as navigator to look at a photo of Hunca Bubba’s potential wife. Hazel is neither impressed by the photo nor interested in hearing about Hunca Bubba’s girlfriend. However, when Hazel spots the girl in front of a movie theater, a memory is sparked because Hazel is a “movie freak from way back.”

Hazel recounts the memory that took place at a movie theater years before. On Easter Sunday, Hazel, Baby Jason, and their older brother, Big Brood, attend the movies. It is clear they frequent the movies often, as they know which theaters are nearest to their home in New York City and which movies are playing. Since they have already seen all of the Three Stooges films, Hazel and her brothers decide to attend a movie playing at the Washington Theater on Amsterdam Avenue. The movie is entitled Gorilla, My Love. Hazel and her brothers purchase bags of potato chips, choosing the brand with bags that make the loudest noise when crumpled. When they sit down to watch Gorilla, My Love, Hazel and her brothers are shocked when a different movie about Jesus called King of Kings starts playing instead. Irate, Hazel and her brothers throw a tantrum, begin  “yellin, booin, stompin and carryin on.” Their outburst is silenced by the Thunderbuns, the strictest female usher in the theater.



As Hazel begins quietly watching King of Kings, she comes to believe that the Jesus depicted in the film is so weak and insignificant that he would never be able to survive in her boisterous family. Following the film, a Bugs Bunny cartoon that the kids have already seen begins to play. Enraged, Hazel confronts the theater manager, demanding he refunds their money due to false advertising. Like most adults, the theater manager patronizes Hazel, treats her like a child, and refuses to refund the money. Big Brood fails to back Hazel up. Hazel storms out into the office, steals a box of matches from the manager’s desk and proceeds to set a fire beneath the candy machine in the theater lobby. As a result, the theater is shut down for one week. Hazel attributes her brazen act to her mother, who once stuck to Hazel’s schoolteachers for mistreating her and other colored students. Later, when Hazel’s father learns of what she has done, he threatens to punish her by removing his belt. However, Hazel gives her version of the story, saying that when someone promises to show Gorilla, My Love, then that better be shown. Hazel reminds her parents that she was raised to keep her word and how important it is to be trustworthy. Hazel’s father listens and agrees with Hazel, admiring her integrity so much that he puts his belt back around his waist.

Back in the present, Hazel shares another example of feeling let down by adults. Just as the movie theater broke its promise of showing Gorilla, My Love, Hazel feels betrayed by the broken promise Hunca Bubba made to her as a child. Hazel weeps as she reminds Hunca Bubba about the time he looked after her and her brothers while their parents were trapped in a snowstorm for two days. Hazel explains how Hunca Bubba told her she was “the cutest thing that ever walked the Earth” and vowed to marry her when she grew up. Now that Hunca Bubba is set to marry another woman, Hazel feels betrayed and that adults cannot be trusted. When Hazel is finished telling her story, Granddaddy Vale and Hunca Bubba break into laughter and tell her that he was just teasing. Hazel is disconsolate and continues to moan and wail in betrayal. In the end, Hazel surmises that some children “must stick together or be lost forever” because adults are untrustworthy. During the ride home, Hazel calls her uncle a “lyin dog” as Baby Jason begins to cry.