The Portrait
by Whitney J. LeBlancPublish: Jan 10, 2018Historical FictionBook Overview
The Portrait is a collection of four short stories about the lives of three people from different worlds during the tumultuous days of the 1960's. Just as in the process of creating a painting, these portraits are created by use of palettes. Each story creates the necessary sketches, colors, brushstrokes, and details to create a portrait of the subject.The first story is about a Latino man, the world's greatest trapeze artiste, who after losing everything that he loves wants to die.
The second story is about a young Black man, caught in a life pattern of survival that he cannot escape, and who is abandoned to die by his friends.
The third story is about a young liberal white woman, who is disowned by her parents because she becomes a liberal humanitarian.
The fourth story is the completed picture when all of the elements of each of the stories are brought together to make up the final picture.
The four characters have in common the historical period of the Civil Rights Era of Martin Luther King. Each in its own way is connected by the unifying force of the social evolution that was taking place in this country and the universe in which these people lived. One could even say that the non-sequitar nature, or rather the disconnectedness of the stories, merge to produce a surrealistic picture of a world gone mad. This world, this environment, we have inherited and find ourselves having to pick up the pieces and make the best of the worst decisions that were made during the tumultuous days of this period in our history. The bringing together of these disparate social elements, cause some to claim is the basis of our democracy. Others however, may feel it is the cause of our undoing. But irrespective of the position one takes, there is always the spiritual element that cannot be ignored, “all men are created equal.” And this is what Portraits deals with, the bringing together, the combining, the unifying and the mixing of God’s people into one loving, unifying, and grateful humanity. Hopefully there may have been some of us who will have learned something from the experience of this Protrait.
