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Richard Henry, son to Meridian Henry and grandson to Mother Henry, is a young Black man from an unnamed town in the U.S. South. In his youth, he is a friend or boyfriend to Juanita Harmon. When Richard is about 14, his mother dies in a fall at a white hotel. Richard, knowing that white men sexually harassed his mother, believes that one of them pushed her. Afterwards, Richard goes to live in New York City with his Aunt Edna, where he becomes a musician. Richard begins dating white women whom he dislikes, working long hours at music gigs, and eventually—to assuage his loneliness—using heroin. After hitting rock bottom in his addiction, he comes back to his hometown to recover, where he reignites his relationship with Juanita, now a college student involved in protests for African American civil rights. Richard’s refusal to treat white people as if they are better than he is inspires another young Black man, Lorenzo Shannon, but draws the wrath of racist white store owner Lyle Britten. After a tense conversation over change for a $20 leads to a physical altercation between Richard and Lyle in Lyle’s store, Richard contemplates leaving town with Juanita. Before he can leave, Lyle murders him—despite Richard’s exhausted questioning of their masculine posturing and his willingness to admit they are both men, Richard’s refusal to apologize to Lyle or call him “sir” makes Lyle homicidally furious. Afterward, Lyle is tried but acquitted for Richard’s murder.
Richard Henry Quotes in Blues for Mister Charlie
The Blues for Mister Charlie quotes below are all either spoken by Richard Henry or refer to Richard Henry. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Act 1
Quotes
Parnell: You may think that a colored boy who gets ruined in the North and then comes home to try to pull himself together deserves to die—I don’t.
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Explanation and Analysis:
Richard: My mother fell down the steps of that damn white hotel? My mother was pushed—you remember yourself how them white bastards was always sniffing around my mother, always around her—because she was pretty and black!
Richard: Every one of them’s got some piss-assed, faggoty white boy on a string somewhere. They go home and marry him, dig, when they can’t make it with me no more—but when they want some loving, funky, down-home, bring-it-on-here-and-put-it-on-the-table style—
Juanita: They sound very sad. It must be very sad for you, too.
Meridian: Of course, if you go back far enough, you get to a point before Christ, if you see what I mean, B.C.—and at that point, I’ve been thinking, black people weren’t raised to turn the other cheek, and in the hope of heaven. No, then they didn’t have to take low. Before Christ. They walked around just as good as anybody else, and when they died, they didn’t go to heaven, they went to join their ancestors.
Parnell: He’s a poor white man. The poor whites have been just as victimized in this part of the world as the blacks have ever been!
Parnell: Meridian—what you ask—I don’t know if I can do it for you.
Meridian: I don’t want you to do it for me. I want you to do it for you.
Act 2
Quotes
Ellis: Mrs. Britten, if you was to be raped by a orang-outang out of the jungle or a stallion, couldn’t do you no worse than a nigger. You wouldn’t be no more good for nobody. I’ve seen it
[…]
That’s why we men have got to be so vigilant.
Lillian: I wouldn’t filthy my hands with that Communist sheet!
Parnell: Ah? But the father of your faith, the cornerstone of that church of which you are so precious an adornment, was a communist, possibly the first.
Richard: Maybe your wife could run home and get some change. You got some change at home, I know. Don’t you?
Lyle: I don’t stand for nobody to talk about my wife.
Juanita: I used to watch you roaring through this town like a St. George thirsty for dragons. And I wanted to let you know you haven’t got to do all that; dragons aren’t hard to find, they’re everywhere. And nobody wants you to be St. George. We just want you to be Parnell.
Act 3
Quotes
Lorenzo: They been asking me about photographs they say he was carrying and they been asking me about a gun I never saw. No. It wasn’t like that. He was a beautiful cat, and they killed him.
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Juanita: I am not responsible for your imagination.
Meridian: I don’t think that the alleged object was my son’s type at all!
The State: And you are a minister?
Meridian: I think I may be beginning to become one.
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Lyle: You ain’t no better than me!
Parnell: I am aware of that. God knows I have been made aware of that—for the first time in my life.
Get the entire Blues for Mister Charlie LitChart as a printable PDF.
Richard Henry Quotes in Blues for Mister Charlie
The Blues for Mister Charlie quotes below are all either spoken by Richard Henry or refer to Richard Henry. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Act 1
Quotes
Parnell: You may think that a colored boy who gets ruined in the North and then comes home to try to pull himself together deserves to die—I don’t.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Richard: My mother fell down the steps of that damn white hotel? My mother was pushed—you remember yourself how them white bastards was always sniffing around my mother, always around her—because she was pretty and black!
Richard: Every one of them’s got some piss-assed, faggoty white boy on a string somewhere. They go home and marry him, dig, when they can’t make it with me no more—but when they want some loving, funky, down-home, bring-it-on-here-and-put-it-on-the-table style—
Juanita: They sound very sad. It must be very sad for you, too.
Meridian: Of course, if you go back far enough, you get to a point before Christ, if you see what I mean, B.C.—and at that point, I’ve been thinking, black people weren’t raised to turn the other cheek, and in the hope of heaven. No, then they didn’t have to take low. Before Christ. They walked around just as good as anybody else, and when they died, they didn’t go to heaven, they went to join their ancestors.
Parnell: He’s a poor white man. The poor whites have been just as victimized in this part of the world as the blacks have ever been!
Parnell: Meridian—what you ask—I don’t know if I can do it for you.
Meridian: I don’t want you to do it for me. I want you to do it for you.
Act 2
Quotes
Ellis: Mrs. Britten, if you was to be raped by a orang-outang out of the jungle or a stallion, couldn’t do you no worse than a nigger. You wouldn’t be no more good for nobody. I’ve seen it
[…]
That’s why we men have got to be so vigilant.
Lillian: I wouldn’t filthy my hands with that Communist sheet!
Parnell: Ah? But the father of your faith, the cornerstone of that church of which you are so precious an adornment, was a communist, possibly the first.
Richard: Maybe your wife could run home and get some change. You got some change at home, I know. Don’t you?
Lyle: I don’t stand for nobody to talk about my wife.
Juanita: I used to watch you roaring through this town like a St. George thirsty for dragons. And I wanted to let you know you haven’t got to do all that; dragons aren’t hard to find, they’re everywhere. And nobody wants you to be St. George. We just want you to be Parnell.
Act 3
Quotes
Lorenzo: They been asking me about photographs they say he was carrying and they been asking me about a gun I never saw. No. It wasn’t like that. He was a beautiful cat, and they killed him.
Related Characters:
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Juanita: I am not responsible for your imagination.
Meridian: I don’t think that the alleged object was my son’s type at all!
The State: And you are a minister?
Meridian: I think I may be beginning to become one.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Lyle: You ain’t no better than me!
Parnell: I am aware of that. God knows I have been made aware of that—for the first time in my life.
