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He looked as if he were fourteen or fifteen, frail and willow-wild, in tennis shoes and blue jeans.

This description of Roger comes early in the story, not long after he tries to steal Mrs. Jones’s purse. This quote gives context to the opening image of a teenager snatching a purse from a woman’s shoulder as Roger is not a strong, fully formed street thief but a young and vulnerable boy. His physical vulnerability matches his social vulnerability as a child with no one at home to feed him supper or see that he washes his face. Here and throughout the story, Hughes emphasizes Roger’s status as a child. Mrs. Jones correctly sees past the act of petty thievery to the boy in need of care and direction. In a world that frequently unjustly views Black boys as threatening adults, Hughes uses Roger as an example of the innocent children who are harshly mischaracterized due to racism and prejudice.

But the boy took care to sit on the far side of the room where he thought she could easily see him out of the corner of her eye, if she wanted to. He did not trust the woman not to trust him. And he did not want to be mistrusted now.

This scene occurs in the middle of the story while Mrs. Jones cooks supper. At this point, Roger has decided not to run away, even though Mrs. Jones leaves the door open. Her hot plate and icebox are behind a room-dividing screen, such that it would be easy for him to sit out of her view, but he takes care to sit where she can see him and know he is not leaving or stealing her purse. Roger believes it is likely that Mrs. Jones will mistrust him, given his earlier behavior. His decision to sit where she can see him shows that he is trying to shift their relationship from one marked by tension to one of trust.

Previous section Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones

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