"Five Bullets for a Whore" and other stories. (Original writing)

This thesis consists of two stories that are part of a collection of fourteen. "Five Bullets for a Whore" and, "The Spent Yam Hill," have a common theme of loss, realization, and reconciliation. After the murder of her daughter, a widowed woman leaves Jamaica and enters a private sanitorium in England. The pain of her loss, she feels, is incomprehensible and she lives in solitude, speaking only as necessary. She finally tells her story to a staff nurse whose own prejudices are brought to the surface by this revelation. In "The Spent Yam Hill," a young country girl moves to the big city to gain independence. When a choice she considered right leaves her without a job, she realizes that she must live with the consequences of her decisions. It frightens her but she moves forward courageously.