“Backslider, The”Rudolph Fisher(1927)
An engaging story by RUDOLPHFISHERpublished in
1927, the year in which he began his NEWYORK
CITYmedical practice. Like the other three short
stories that he published that same year, “The Back-
slider” was set in HARLEM. The protagonist,
Ebenezer Grimes, is a young man who suffers greatly
for his perceived sins. Fisher contemplates the na-
ture of hypocrisy and the power of self-confidence in
this tale about a young man’s coming of age.
The story begins as Ebenezer, who also is known
as Eben, timidly makes his way into a storefront
church. The building, which is a converted row-
house, “wore the saintlier garb of a proper convert:
an uncompromising halo from a globe-light over the
doorway; windows stained with tissue-paper, red and
green in squares” (Fisher, 108). The parishioners in-
clude Sister Gassoway, a “big, shiny and round”
woman, and Brother Hezekiah Mosby, “a sexton,
usher and chorister” who usually “flit[s] about like a
worrisome little black fly, grinning, whispering,
buzzing useless greetings, questions, confidences”
(Fisher, 108). Presiding over the meeting is Senior
Deacon Crutchfield, a “magnificent man, big, hearty,
bass-voiced, with an engaging smile and a painfully
powerful handshake” (Fisher, 109).
Eben, a southerner who has been raised in the
church, regrets that in New York he has become a
“sinful backslider” and failed to “advanc[e] to high
office” (Fisher, 109). His worst fears are realized
when the congregation votes to expel him because
he has been seen frequenting a local bar and emerg-
ing in a drunken stupor. Clearly shaken by the pro-
ceedings, Eben ends up at the Rodent, the very club
that has caused his downfall. It is a nondescript
place, “nothing but a transformed cellar—not too
much transformed” (Fisher, 111). Eben has been
robbed in the Rodent, but Lil, a charitable young
woman who works in the bar, also has befriended
him. She advises Eben to join another church, one
that is “not so tight—with a broader mind” and
with a “long name, like Episcopalian or Utilitarian
or something” (Fisher, 112).
The story gains momentum as Eben endeavors
to save Lil from being arrested for unpaid debts.
He plans to burglarize a barber shop but instead
steals a purse from an apartment. Police pursue
him when they receive a tip from Spider Webb, the
con man who stole Eben’s paycheck during his first
visit to the Rodent. Eben narrowly escapes arrest
and on his way to return the purse, sees a crowd
gathered about a police van. He waits with them
to see the individuals being arrested for bootleg-
ging and gambling. He is taken aback when he sees
Deacon Crutchfield, one of the leaders of the ille-
gal activities, being led out to the wagon.
Eben is beside himself when he realizes that
hypocrites have engineered his recent expulsion
from the church. He exults in the fact that he has
not been refused access to God and plans to “back-
slide on de Devil” now that he has acquired a sec-
ond chance. The story ends on a romantic and
mildly humorous note as Eben wonders “ef Lil
would backslide too” (Fisher, 118).
“The Backslider” reflects Fisher’s talent for
crafting accessible tales about earnest southerners
who have to content with the corrupting influ-
ences of the urban North.20