Reading Tutorial for Chester Himes

Atalia’s Reading Tutorial　
The passages I would like the class to discuss today include:
1.    "I’m surprised at you Bob. I figured you were too intelligent to lose your head about something like that. I figured you had better manners, more respect for women than that. You know how Southern people talk, how they feel about working with you coloured boys. They have to get used to it, you gotta give them time" (29).

2.    "I’d debated whether to go back and split him. I’d get a fine and some days, perhaps. Probably a sapping at police headquarters. I’d lose my car. I think that was what made me decide that my pride wasn’t worth it. My car was proof of something to me, a symbol. But at the time I didn’t analyse the feeling; I just knew I couldn’t lose my car even if I lost my job" (31).

3.     "I felt the size of it, the immensity of the production. I felt the importance of it, the importance of the whole war. I'd never given a damn one way or the other about the war excepting wanting to keep out of it; and at first when I wanted the Japanese to win. And now I did; I was stirred as I had been when I was a little boy watching a parade, seeing the flag go by. That filled-up feeling of my country. I felt included in it all; I had never felt included before. It was a wonderful feeling" (38).The three questions I hope to cover in class today include:

1. Is it wrong for Bob to disrespect women who don't show him mutual
respect? Is there a double standard of what whites expect from blacks and
vise versa? What double standards are still shown in society today?

2. What is the symbol Bob refers to in relation to his car? Why might he take
pride in owning a car?


3. What is the significance of the war according to Bob? Is it World War II he
is refering too or another war within society and if that is the case what
issues does he try to address?