Structure

Title

The title of Marc Mitchell’s short story, “The New Girl”, is somewhat vague as it only tells readers the story is about a new girl and might mislead them into thinking that it is about something positive. Upon reading the story, we find out that the title refers to a girl who has recently moved into the neighborhood where the narrator and his friend Allison live. 

The title also becomes symbolic of racial difference as the new girl is African American, and she comes to a “white, lower-middle-class neighborhood” (p. 22, l. 15). Her presence and that of her family seem to disrupt the old living conditions as the neighborhood is unwilling to accommodate an African-American family. However, the ‘new’ arrivals do not manage to change the old customs as the family moves away some months later – presumably because of the racism they faced f...