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Chapters Eight & Nine
Summary: Chapter Eight
The neighborhood’s protestations toward the Walkers ease slightly when they learn that Reginald, Loretta’s husband, is the actor who portrays Sergeant Tommy Taylor on the police drama Frisk. A fan of the show, Blake takes particular delight living across the street from the Walkers. Though Blake and Stella keep their distance, Stella keenly observes how the Walkers conduct their lives. One morning Stella catches Kennedy and the Walkers’ daughter, Cindy, playing with dolls across the street. Suddenly, Stella snatches away a confused Kennedy, prohibiting her from playing with Black people. That evening, Loretta shows up at Stella’s doorstep to return the doll that Kennedy left when Stella took her away in a hurry. Ashamed, Stella avoids Loretta for weeks. At church one day, Cath informs Stella that the Walkers are trying to get Cindy into the local school.
One afternoon in June, Stella decides to apologize to Loretta and makes her a lemon cake. Loretta, hosting a party, invites Stella inside and offers her a drink. Stella denies the drink, asserting her intention to apologize. Before she leaves, Stella suggests that maybe Cindy and Kennedy could play sometime. One morning soon after, Stella and Loretta watch as Cindy and Kennedy play in the park. Loretta recounts meeting Reginald at Howard University and explains that she initially wanted to become a history professor before marrying Reginald and moving to Los Angeles. Loretta goes on to explain that they moved to Palace Estates for the better schools and nicer neighborhoods—the same reason Stella and Blake moved there.
Throughout the summer, Stella and Loretta develop a friendship. Stella, however, hides her relationship with Loretta from Blake, instructing Kennedy to lie about her playdates with Cindy if Blake asks about their day. During one of Loretta’s weekly card games, however, Stella and Loretta disagree about sending Cindy to Brentwood Academy. Stella says it is unwise and will only cause trouble for Cindy and Loretta, though Loretta argues that her daughter should have the same opportunities as the other students. The Walkers end up sending Cindy to St. Francis in Santa Monica, a school half an hour away. On one of the last days of summer, Loretta asks Stella about her family. Stella tells Loretta that she is a twin and that Loretta reminds her of Desiree. Stella gets emotional as she thinks of the family she left behind.
Summary: Chapter Nine
This chapter begins with a flashback of Stella and Desiree in New Orleans. After getting fired from Dixie Laundry, Stella applied for an opening in the Maison Blanche marketing department. During the interview, Stella decided to pass as white, and was hired to be Blake Sanders’s secretary. While at work, Stella created the persona of Miss Vignes, her white counterpart. At home, Stella did not talk to Desiree about her work life but fanaticized about living life as Miss Vignes outside the office and reaping the privileges of white society.
In the present day, the women in Stella’s Brentwood neighborhood gossip and speculate about Stella and Loretta’s relationship, finding it curious that Stella spends so much time with Loretta. Blake also notices a change in Stella, but when he asks Stella about it, Stella lies and says she is spending time with the other mothers as she accompanies Cindy on playdates with the other children.
On Christmas Eve, Stella and Blake prepare to throw their party. When Loretta asks what they are doing that evening, Stella misleads Loretta and explains that they are having a small get together. The whole neighborhood shows up at the party except for the Walkers. Referring to Loretta, Cath spitefully asks Stella in front of everyone when her “new friend” might show up. Stella erupts and exclaims that she and Loretta are not friends, and that even if they were, their friendship is none of Cath’s concern.
That evening, while getting ready for bed, Blake questions Stella about her relationship with Loretta. Stella explains that Cindy and Kennedy get along well and that she didn’t find it necessary to tell Blake that she was visiting Loretta. Blake, confused by Stella’s lying and change in personality, suggests that Stella take up a class or an activity to occupy her time. The following morning, Stella looks out her window and sees Kennedy and Cindy crying outside. When Stella inquiries about what happened, Loretta informs her that Kennedy made racist remarks toward Cindy and warns Stella and Kennedy to stay away from them. Not long after, the Walkers’ home is vandalized. After months of abuse and harassment from the community the Walkers decide to leave Brentwood and move to Baldwin Hills. Though they haven’t spoken since Christmas, Stella watches as the Walkers load their things into the moving van and imagines telling Loretta her secret.
Analysis: Chapters Eight & Nine
A theme throughout these chapters is the idea of a life splitting into two. Stella says her life was split into two in New Orleans. As she was performing the role of Miss Vignes, Stella could feel that she was becoming two different people. She protected and hid her alter-identity as Miss Vignes from Desiree, and she began to resent Desiree for stifling her white self simply by being present. Stella essentially swaps her Black twin for her white alter ego, and her decision to permanently become Miss Vignes splits her in two for good. Just as Desiree and Stella sometimes feel like they are half of a whole, Stella feels half alive living as a white person. In her splitting, Stella has lost not only a twin but also part of herself.
In moments of understanding facets of the Black experience, whiteness itself begins to break down. The scenes in which Stella interacts with Loretta and her friends illustrate what the world might be like if white people truly understood the pain and constriction of being Black in America. Stella knows what Loretta and her friends might say about her because she herself has criticized white people for ignoring their complicity in upholding systems of oppression. It is in these moments of insight into the Black experience that Stella’s performance of whiteness begins to crack. After Loretta calls Stella out on her white guilt, Stella unthinkingly kneels on the floor to protect Loretta from cutting herself on a broken glass and calls her “baby.” This moment is reminiscent of when Desiree sucked on Stella’s finger when she cut herself in their mother’s kitchen. It is one of the few moments when Stella’s original self shows through her white façade, suggesting that her performance fractures when she allows herself to feel empathy for the Black experience.
These chapters present an intriguing twist of the traditional passing narrative: Stella, who is passing as white, risks the life she has built by becoming close friends with her Black neighbor Loretta. Throughout the novel, Stella is most afraid of being discovered by Black people as she believes they are better able to spot her deceit. Yet her loneliness and homesickness compel her again and again across the street to Loretta’s house, and she forms a friendship with Loretta. But when Stella feels that her secret is at risk of being revealed, Stella suggests to her neighbors that Loretta’s husband, Reg, made her feel uncomfortable, thereby sacrificing the Walker family (who are consequently harassed until they leave the neighborhood) to keep her secret safe. In doing so, Stella summons the powerful violence that follows when a white woman lies about a Black man’s impropriety—the same violence that led to her father’s murder. When Stella registers that her perceived white privilege means that she will always be believed over her Black neighbors, she realizes that she has truly become white.
