Honey Boy
A Traditional Story of the American South
Brian Altano
The old woman sat on the old couch in the steaming heat of an August afternoon in
Bayou, Mississippi, which is ten miles from the County line. She was all alone, and sat
looking at her old furniture and the frayed rug on the floor. She got up to sweep the
dust around a little bit, then settled back into her favorite chair, the one with the faded
yellow pillow that her Aunt Ivy had made so many years before. Everything was old and
still. Even the flies on the window sill were too lazy to lift themselves from their resting
place in the cool shade of the sash.
Everybody called her Mom although she had only had one child. She got up slowly and
moved to the center of the room to switch on her radio. It was a splendid radio, new,
shiny, of glistening mahogany wood. It stood out even more because it was the only
new item in the whole house. But Mom didn't like it for that; she worshipped that radio
because it had been a present from Honey Boy. She still remembered the day he had
brought it two years before, riding down the road in his hot rod, blowing the horn and
yelling and singing, with his best friend Big Blue, his sidekick he called him, right by his
side. They had made her close her eyes and stand there in the middle of that room
while they carried it in, all shiny and bright, all the time laughing like little kids. Then they
turned her around and around like ring around the rosy in the second grade until she
was all dizzy and faint. After that, they had made her open her eyes. Mom cried and
cried and hugged Honey Boy and hugged Big Blue, and they had a celebration with
iced tea and molasses cakes, and they sang and danced with Rudy Vallee and Eddie
Cantor and laughed with Amos and Andy and Allen's Alley.
They called him Honey Boy because when he was born he had a big birthmark on his
right shoulder that looked just like a beehive. Nobody knew his real name. Everybody
liked Honey Boy because he was a good friend, a wild, uncontrollable sort in school but
so genuine and unaffecting that even his teachers had a hard time scolding him. He
was so full of life that he could never sit still. He was always squirming and plotting, he
and Big Blue always, making big plans to get rich and take their mamas to live in big
houses right in the middle of town.
Mom sat on the old couch that August afternoon watching the radio. She always said
she "watched" the radio because she heard the voices and the music, but she saw
Honey Boy's face on the front of the radio, with that big smile he always had. But when
she heard the words "WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE", and then heard Honey Boy's name, she
got up, turned the radio off, and began to wait. She didn't have to wait long. Just a few
hours later she heard the car moving very slowly down the dirt road that led to Mom's
house. It was moving so slowly that it sounded like it never wanted to get there. Mom
knew. Mom waited. And a feeling of deep weariness came over her whole body, as if
something was pressing down real hard on her.
The sheriff was the biggest man in the County, and the wooden steps creaked as he
ascended. Despite his size, he could sometimes have the softest voice, just a little
higher than a whisper, but everyone understood him just fine. You just had to look in his
eyes to catch his meaning. His eyes told everything. His words were orderly:
"Hello, Mrs. Summers. Sorry to bother you. I hate to do this. But it's my job. I have to ask
you to take a ride to the station house with me. It's official business. I wish you didn't
have to. But it's official business."
Mom understood right away. Her face had no expression at all. She replied:
"All right sheriff. I just have to get my coat."
Now the sheriff didn't tell her that she didn't need a coat, in that great heat in August.
Her dress was a little old, and had been mended in quite a few places. But she had a
beautiful pink coat, spotless and new, which Honey Boy had given her one Sunday
morning, as he came flying through town, ready to embark on a new adventure, and
he promised her that he would come back rich and take her to live in a big house. With
her new coat on, she was ready, and she accompanied the sheriff to the car.
On the way, the sheriff remained silent for a long time, and drove so slowly that you
could count the weeds along the sides of the road. Finally, he coughed a little, and
began:
"Ma'am, I hate to have to do this, but I have to. You see, I have a dead body in my
office, and they think it's Honey Boy. There was a $100,000 reward to turn in Honey Boy
dead or alive, and Big Blue, he come struttin' in this mornin' and he say that he'd shot
Honey Boy. For the reward. He wants the $100,000. So we need you to identify Honey
Boy. You see, he was shot in the face, and we can't recognize whether it's him or not.
So that's why I have to bring you out there. They say a mother always knows her son. I'm
awful sorry. But it's official business, you understand."
When they pulled up in front of the station house, there was a big crowd of people, all
talking and milling around. On the top step was Big Blue. He was telling a bunch of
them what he was going to do with all his money.
Big Blue said:
"I'm going to buy myself a new car, and a house and some land. I'm going to buy
myself some new clothes and get myself married!"
But when Mom came slowly up the steps he hushed and bowed his head. She walked
right up to him and said:
"Big Blue, how've you been? You've not been to the house lately. I've not seen you with
my Honey Boy. Don't you like my iced tea anymore?"
Big Blue didn't say a word, but kept his head down.
The sheriff led Mom into the run-down station house. They moved slowly towards a small
room in the back where on a table in the corner was a large mass covered with a
bright white sheet. The sheriff apologized again:
"Ma'am, I'm terribly sorry to have to make you do this. But you understand. Now, I'm
going to show you the body. As soon as you're sure, tell me."
Then the sheriff slowly peeled the sheet from the body, starting at the top of the head
and unrolling oh so slowly down, past the disfigured, unrecognizable face to the broad
shoulders. It seemed that he lingered a bit in this position, as they both looked at the
beehive birthmark on the right shoulder. Mom did not make a sound, did not move.
However, if you looked real close you might have been able to perceive a tiny tear
welling up in the corner of one eye. Then the sheriff continued, moving down the chest,
until Mom said softly:
"That's enough, sheriff. I'm sure. I know now. You know that a mother always knows her
son. That's not Honey Boy."
There was utter silence in the room. Neither person said anything. They just stood there
looking at the whiteness of the sheet covering the body. Finally, the sheriff moved slowly
towards her and said:
"Thank you ma'am. I'm real sorry. But you understand. It's official business. Thank you for
your help. I'll take you home now. Could you wait in the car a moment?"
As Mom walked out the door, her face without a trace of emotion, the crowd outside
hushed. She walked over to Big Blue and touched his face, and said to him:
"So long, Big Blue. Say hello to your Mama for me."
She moved down to the car, opened the door and sat in the front seat and looked
straight ahead at the dusty main street.
When the sheriff came out, the crowd suddenly came to life. Big Blue had a big smile
on his face, and an expectant look in his eyes. The sheriff came over and said:
"Big Blue, put out your hand." He said: "Oooo eeee, sheriff. I can't wait to get that
reward."
The sheriff continued, as if not hearing, "Big Blue, put out your other hand."
Big Blue went on, "It's a powerful lot of money."
Just then the sheriff clapped the handcuffs on his wrist, and looked him straight in the
eye: "Big Blue, you're under arrest. For murder. Mrs. Summers has identified the body. It's
not Honey Boy. You've killed an innocent man."
Big Blue just stared out, his eyes wide in amazement. Then he bellowed: "What do you
mean, sheriff? Are you telling me I don't know my best friend? I killed my best friend! I
killed Honey Boy!" He was still shouting as the sheriff led him away.
As the car rolled slowly down the dirt road leading to Mom's house neither spoke a
word. It wasn't until he had brought Mom to the door that the sheriff finally spoke:
"Thank you, ma'am. Sorry again. Just doing my job."
The old woman sat down on that old couch and looked around at her old furniture and
the frayed rug on the floor. Now, in the calm of her sanctuary she looked at the
glistening radio, which she never turned on again in her life, and started to cry very
profoundly, to the accompaniment of a moan that sounded like a chant: "Oh, Honey
Boy ... Oh, Honey Boy ... Oh, Honey Boy."
---------- oOo --------------We will now conduct a literary and moral analysis of the story in its various aspects.
Setting
The setting is the point in time and place at which the events of a story occur. Generally
speaking, there are two types of setting: a) Unique: A unique setting means that the story can
only take place at the particular time or place. Because of their particular idiosyncrasies, there
is no practical way for the plot and characters to be moved to another time or place. b)
Transferable (universal): This type of setting is generic and can be readily moved to another
time or place. In this sense, the setting is not a unique part of the story. A story set in one large
city, such as Stephen Crane’s Maggie, A Girl of the Streets could function as well in New York as
in Paris, Rome, Seoul, or Moscow.
The setting of Honey Boy may be identified through the clues established in the text. The place
is identified as Bayou, Mississippi. The time is more difficult to identify. The presence of the
radio delimits the earliest possible date as 1925, the year of the first radio broadcast in
America. The radio programs mentioned (Allen’s Alley, Amos & Andy, Eddie Cantor, and Rudy
Valee) were popular beginning in the late 1920’s. The setting is thus the Deep South in the late
1920’s – early 1930’s.
Is the setting of Honey Boy unique or transferable? Could the story be moved to another place
or time without affecting its integrity? Probably not, and for two reasons. First, it could not be
moved to a more modern period because CSI tools, dental records, and DNA information could
identify the body rather than simply relying on Mom. The “Wanted Dead or Alive” aspect,
which contravenes the American justice system based on innocent until proven guilty, was
common in the ‘Roaring Twenties’ of Prohibition, when bootlegging often led to gangland
killings. The story could not be set in the 1940’s because Honey Boy and Big Blue, as poor
southern men, would be the first young people called for the army in World War II. The 1950’s
would be impossible because in that decade television eclipsed radio as the most popular
means of communication. Secondly, the placement of the story in Bayou, Mississippi, that is,
one of the poorest and most backwards cities in America, constitutes a unique logos, especially
in terms of the characterization of the sheriff – a big, burly, powerful, bigoted figure who
nevertheless respects Mom, sets in place what I call “stereotype of place.” We can probably
recite many adjectives to describe Americans from the Deep South”, both positive and negative
(racist, religious, red-necked, hospitable, traditional, slow-witted). We know so much about
these people, despite never having visited the place. And thus, we interpolate our stereotypes
onto the characters and the analysis of the story.
Plot
It is useless to analyze possible turns in the plot because plot is what we are handed. No
alternatives exist. We cannot play the game of what if since we are not the author of the story
In Honey Boy, the whole plot is predicated on an unknown and undescribed event: a crime that
Honey Boy commits that warrants his being wanted “Dead or Alive.” Of course, to merit this
punishment the crime must be murder. Another significant aspect is that Honey Boy is shot in
the face, compelling Mom to physically identify her son.
The decision of the Sheriff to accept Mom’s lie that the body was not Honey Boy is an
interesting plot twist. What does he get out of it? We can understand Mom’s motivation:
simple revenge against Big Blue, who has killed his best friend for a monetary reward. Yet the
Sheriff seemingly has nothing to gain. His action initiates a concatenation of events: accepting
Mom’s lie that the body was not Honey Boy, arresting Big Blue for the murder of an unknown
man, condemning Big Blue to a probable death sentence. He acts out of an archaic heroism in
avenging Mom and condemning Big Blue for killing his best friend.
In fact, we can project the condition and actions of the characters after the end of the story.
What are they doing? Are they in a better or worse situation?
Character
Honey Boy
Projection of condition or actions
Big Blue
Mom
The Sheriff (will he get a promotion, a
demotion, or will he remain in the same
position?)
Big Blue’s mother (hypothetical – with the
premise that Big Blue receives quick capital
punishment)
Honey Boy, of course, is dead. But actually he isn’t dead because the body has not been
identified as Honey Boy. He is still wanted dead or alive, altering the life of the people of
Bayou, who must live with a murderer in their midst. Big Blue will probably be convicted of
murdering an innocent man (not Honey Boy), and receive capital punishment. Mom will be
avenged, but she cannot visit Honey Boy’s grave (he is not dead according to the law). As a
result, she condemns herself to a life of utter loneliness and isolation. The sheriff will certainly
not get a promotion. Just analyze the body count; 1) the person Honey Boy killed 2) the
person Big Blue killed 3) Big Blue (capital punishment). And Honey Boy has still not been
captured. By accepting Mom’s lie, the Sheriff has threatened his own position. After Big Blue’s
execution, Big Blue’s mother, unlike Mom, may partake in the rituals of death and mourning.
She may receive relatives, neighbors, and friends in her house and truly mourn her departed
son while Mom cannot do this because Honey Boy is not dead.
Morality / legality
The moral conundrum in the story is that legal actions are not always moral and moral actions
are not always legal. Let us examine the following actions:
Fill in the details in the chart. Indicate with a checkmark whether the actions is moral, legal, or
both:
Action
Honey Boy kills someone
Big Blue kills Honey Boy
Mom lies about the body
The sheriff accepts Mom’s lie
The sheriff arrests Big Blue
Moral?
Legal?
This is the most interesting aspect of the story. Honey Boy’s crime is neither moral nor legal.
Big Blue’s killing of Honey Boy, though, is certainly not moral, but it is legal (“Wanted Dead or
Alive”). Mom’s lie is immoral, but unless she has sworn an oath, it is not illegal. The sheriff’s
action is perplexing. It is necessary (for the story), and in his own morality, it is moral. Yet it is
illegal in terms of his position and his responsibilities as sheriff. His arrest of Big Blue again is
moral in his own moral system, but it is certainly illegal – and it may lead to dire but merited
consequences for Big Blue.
Opinion on Mom’s actions
We are left to analyze Mom’s actions. First of all, was she a good mother? Many might say yes,
but in accepting stolen merchandise from her son, she aided and abetted a criminal and did not
teach him anything. Few critics see a murderer and say that his mother must have been a saint.
On the other hand, Mom is magnificent in the way she gets revenge on Big Blue, who is already
counting the reward money for killing her son. This empowered mother rises up and
misidentifies the body, thus condemning Big Blue to arrest and possible capital punishment. Do
we accept and even praise Mom’s action? Or is her action simply another in a string of flawed
moves: Honey Boy’s murder of an innocent party, Big Blue’s killing of his best friend, Mom’s lie,
and the Sheriff’s accepting of the lie and arrest of Big Blue, all miserable acts of desperation
wrought by the poverty of the deep South.