Alligator Bayou Themes

The turn of the twentieth century in the United States was not a tolerant or just time period for the nation. Racism was rampant, oppressing any and all people who didn't fall into the category of...

Calogero and his family spend most of their time thinking and talking about food in Alligator Bayou, either because they are going to grow and sell it to the townspeople, or because they are going...

One of the only things oppressed groups can have going for them in a situation where they are discriminated against is having a good, clean reputation. In Alligator Bayou, Calogero's uncles work ti...

Being new to a country is hard enough—there are new customs and new cultural protocol to sort out—but in Alligator Bayou, Calo's family has the additional struggle of not speaking English. And...

Alligator Bayou doesn't teach or preach or try to determine anything about the legitimacy of religion, but religion still plays a role in the story. Calogero and his family are Catholic, as are all...

As far as Alligator Bayou is concerned, there may not be two regions that contrast more than Cefalu, Sicily and Tallulah, Louisiana at the turn of the twentieth century. One is homey and alive and...

There are at least two kinds of foolishness in the world—the kind that happens when you should've known better, and the kind that happens accidentally because you couldn't have known better. And...

Alligator Bayou is not only full of social issues—racism, immigration, assimilation, and more—but the natural world packs a powerful punch in this book too. And while the landscape and geograph...