The Old Shoemaker by Voltairine de Cleyre, Story, Analysis, & Themes

The Old Shoemaker by Voltairine de Cleyre, Story, Analysis, & Themes

"The Old Shoemaker" by Voltairine de Cleyre is a short story about an old shoemaker who lives in a house at the end of an alley with a frightening old woman. Despite his appearance, the shoemaker is a great man who had a spiritual encounter with a "Mighty One" who visited him. The visitor brought him freedom, and the shoemaker passed upward, smiling to the transfiguration, leaving behind the dross of his life. The story emphasizes the idea that a person's true greatness may not be visible to others and that spiritual experiences can transform even the most ordinary lives. The Old Shoemaker: Story by Voltairine de Cleyre He had lived a long time there, in the house at the end of the alley, and no one had ever known that he was a great man. He was lean and palsied and had a crooked back; his beard was grey and ragged and his eyebrows came too far forward; there were seams and flaps in the empty, yellow old skin, and he gasped horribly when he breathed, taking ho…