Atamini Akoma
“Boys don’t tell their hearts out”: Black Boyhood and Masculinity
Interpretations of Alice Dunbar-Nelson’s ‘His Hearts Desire’
Student Exhibition and Reflections | Spring 2025
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Alice Dunbar Nelson not only [MISSING A WORD] about the lives of Black people, but the lives and experiences of Black children growing up around the year 1900. One of her short stories, called “His Heart’s Desire,” is a captivating story about a five-year-old boy named Andy who has a burning desire for a doll and cannot tell anyone about it because of the stigma that comes along with his desire. Andy knows how frowned upon it is for him, and boys in general, to voice their emotions, and he knows a consequence of doing that would be him being perceived as weak and an object of ridicule. Dunbar-Nelson's story is an example of how Black boys found created spaces for themselves and created their own joy despite oppression.
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“He was no weak, puny boy; he was round and sturdy and hard-fisted, and he was 5 years old, and had already learned to bully his small sister and to gaze with envious eyes at Dobson and Abe Powers as they stood on the sidewalk smoking cigarettes and using picturesque and ornate language when occasion presented itself.”
Black Boys, Masculinity, and Slavery
“Andy deemed that day a red-letter one when a member of ‘de gang’ noticed him, even though it might be but a careless ‘Hullo, kid!’ Then would Andy swell his little chest and strut and answer with a comical imitation of the larger boy’s manner, and he would go to the small sister and push her in token of his overweening joy.”
“Try to imagine how you would feel if you woke up one morning to find the sun shivering and all the stars aflame. You would be frightened because it is out of the order of nature. Any upheaval in the universe is terrifying because it so profoundly attacks one’s sense of one’s own reality. Well, the black man has functioned in the white man’s world as a fixed star, as an immovable pillar, and as he moves out of his place, heaven and earth are shaken to their foundations. (Baldwin 1963)”
“Had Andy told any one or even whispered his secret longing it might have been granted; but Andy was a boy, and boys don’t tell their hearts out, and furthermore, he was ashamed to confess his weakness for the world to laugh at, and gibe and jeer at him, for Andy wanted a doll."
Discussion questions
How would you interpret Andy’s relationship with the doll and Sissy?
What reasons could there be for Andy to think it’s not acceptable for him to want a doll? Think about the cultural and societal context in which the story takes place.
What are ways that Black boys today subvert or go against the grain in how they express masculinity?
How do Coates and Baldwin’s messages contrast with Dunbar-Nelson's in “His Heart’s Desire”? How do you think either author would respond to this story?
“You are growing into consciousness, and my wish for you is that you feel no need to constrict yourself to make other people comfortable. ”
ATAMINI AKOMA (she/her) is a senior at Villanova University majoring in Psychology and Global Interdisciplinary Studies with a concentration in Japanese Studies and a minor in Asian Studies. Her interests mainly lie in studying Japanese language and culture, and after graduation, plans to pursue a career in foreign service with the Department of State. Atamini is an active member of organizations on campus such as the Black Student Union and the Japanese club. She is excited to be a part of the Taught By Literature team as a new Research Fellow, and is looking forward to moving the project forward.