# "The Yellow Sweater"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-yellow-sweater/664705>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [July 27, 2013, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-yellow-sweater/664705 "2013-07-27T23:56:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![agnesnitt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d78d45/32.png) [@agnesnitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/agnesnitt)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2013, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-yellow-sweater/664705/1 "2013-07-27T23:56:56Z")

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I’m trying to find the author of a short story called “The Yellow Sweater”. It’s NOT by Hugh Garner which appears to be a bout a hitchhiker.

This is a story about a boy who goes to visit a college with his family. He’s wearing a yellow sweater. Throughout the story, despite the fact that no one says anything to him about it, he realizes that he’s committed a horrible fashion solecism. By the end of the story, his family is huddled around him to protect him.

I was forced to read this story in the 60’s. I hated it, but it was well written. I want to read it again, to see how the author’s handled the story to make it so memorable.

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**Author:** ![TheZenPaperboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9a28c/32.png) [@TheZenPaperboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheZenPaperboy)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2013, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-yellow-sweater/664705/2 "2013-07-28T02:16:49Z")

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Is it The Yellow Turtleneck Sweater by Milton White. That story is in Stanford Short Stories 1950.

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**Author:** ![agnesnitt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d78d45/32.png) [@agnesnitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/agnesnitt)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2013, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-yellow-sweater/664705/3 "2013-07-28T18:45:39Z")

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Thanks for locating it! I have no idea how you found it. I’m a pretty good researcher, but I 'd never been able to identify it. I think I was misled by the impression that it was by a more famous author of the era, so I went down a couple of wrong paths that ended in dead ends.

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**Author:** ![TheZenPaperboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9a28c/32.png) [@TheZenPaperboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheZenPaperboy)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2013, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-yellow-sweater/664705/4 "2013-07-28T21:23:22Z")

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I went to Google Books and entered The Yellow Sweater short story. It is part of a book called A Yale Man. It looks like you can read the short story at Google Books.

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**Author:** ![Mgutgsell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@Mgutgsell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mgutgsell)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2025, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-yellow-sweater/664705/5 "2025-03-23T16:19:01Z")

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Amazing to find your post. For years this story has hung around my mind. When I read it, in school 1972, I did not like it. But it’s a profound story full of emotion, embarrassment, and family.