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Roger is a young teenage boy who begins the story with the sense that he must provide for all his own needs. Roger is introduced in the story as a somewhat incompetent mugger. While it is not clear whether he has robbed anyone before, the slapstick failure of his attempt to steal Mrs. Jones’s purse suggests that he is not practiced at theft. Hughes paints a comic image of a skinny boy pulled over by the sheer weight of the pocketbook he is attempting to steal, suggesting from the beginning of the story that Roger is too young to be on his own. Roger seems too innocent to lie convincingly to Mrs. Jones, telling her frankly that he will run if she lets him go and letting her drag him to her home without making great efforts to escape. From the moment Mrs. Jones captures him, Roger seems more deserving of pity than fear. 

By the time Mrs. Jones gets Roger into her room at the boarding house, he starts to trust that she may care for him. Although he has a chance to run away when she first lets him go, Roger instead decides to stay with Mrs. Jones, illustrating his desire for someone who will treat him in a maternal way, even if that includes scolding him. Roger warms quickly to the idea of this meal as a chance to experience family life together, voluntarily washing up and offering to go to the store for her. Over the course of the evening, Roger becomes increasingly captivated by Mrs. Jones, lapsing into surprised silence when she does not take obvious opportunities to claim moral superiority over him. By the end of their time together, her empathy and compassion have transformed him. The boy who began the story attacking Mrs. Jones ends the story feeling such deep gratitude that he can barely choke out his thanks as she sends him back out into the world, forever changed by the unwarranted grace extended to him.

Previous section Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones

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