All-Bright Court consists of a number of stories about people, most of them black, who live in the same area
of Lackawanna, New York, near the steel plant where many of the men work. Each chapter in the book is structured like a short story, focusing on a single point of view and moving inexorably through an episode or a series of related episodes to a well-thought-out conclusion. Unifying elements, however, make
All-Bright Court a
novel, rather than a collection of short stories. The book is arranged chronologically to cover a period of about twenty years, during which Porter traces the life of Samuel Taylor and, later, the lives of his wife and his
children—in particular of Michael (Mikey), who often appears even in the chapters that are told from the viewpoints of other characters.
Throughout her novel, Porter maintains a second narrative line, reminding her readers of events in the outside world and pointing out the effects they have on the lives of her characters. At times, these references come in the form of dialogue, as when the plant workers discuss the probability that the expansion of European steel plants will cause layoffs in Lackawanna. Yet it is usually television that brings the outside world into All-Bright Court. Porter shows Mary Kate weeping when President John F. Kennedy is assassinated and depicts Dorene Taylor, Mikey’s younger sister, hiding in terror because she thinks that the war in Vietnam may come to her home. In addition to reinforcing the chronological structure of the novel, these references to outside events emphasize the sense of powerlessness felt by all Porter’s characters, eventually even by the determined Samuel Taylor.
Samuel Taylor’s story begins when, as an unwanted orphan in Tupelo, Mississippi, he decides to go north after meeting Mary Kate Bell. As soon as he has established himself in Lackawanna, with a job, a house, and furniture, he returns to Tupelo, marries Mary Kate, and takes her to her new home.
In the years that follow, Samuel and Mary Kate work hard. They are conscientious parents and responsible citizens. Samuel, however, is never free from worry. He is afraid of losing his income, of being laid off or fired, even of being forced to go on strike. Meanwhile, Mary Kate is burdened with almost continual pregnancy, physical and emotional exhaustion, and constant concern about her children, who are sentenced to grow up in an environment that promises them nothing.
Interspersed with the ongoing story of Samuel and Mary Kate Taylor—who, despite a truly heroic struggle can never improve their lot—are vignettes that reveal far more desperate lives all around them. Because so many of the adults portrayed have long since given up on life, they neglect and abandon their children. Perhaps feeling that those children represent their only secure hold on life, however, these characters remember their offspring whenever the mood strikes them. The alcoholic mother of Mikey’s friend Dennis nastily forbids the Taylors to clean him up, thus ending his friendship with Mikey. The indifferent, even hostile, mother of a little albino girl who was left alone in an empty house decides to take the child back just when she has found love and security with Venita.
Over the years, Samuel and Mary Kate Taylor come to see All-Bright Court, which once seemed to promise them freedom, as just another prison. The best Samuel can hope for is to continue in his dead-end job at Capital Steel. The best that Mary Kate can expect is to stay in her crumbling cement block house, enduring the noxious fumes, the ear-splitting noise, and the rain of steel particles that are produced by the plant on which their existence depends. The best they can do for their children is to send them away, like Mikey, to learn new social skills, new attitudes, and a new language. In the final chapter, on his way back to All-Bright Court for a visit, Mikey loses his way in a blizzard and is rescued by his father. Thisreunion in the snow symbolizes Mikey’s attachment to his parents. Even as they embrace, however, Mikey can no longer hear a word that his father is saying. The distance between their worlds has become too great.