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Ermina Crump
Gerte is a white woman from Germany who meets Godfrey on the New York City subway. When they happen to meet, Godfrey is in the midst of feeling overwhelmed by his conflicting desires to embrace Lily’s affection and stay true to his religious beliefs. Gerte, for her part, has just arrived in the United States and asks for Godfrey’s help navigating the subway system, asking if New Orleans if far away—a good indication that she’s quite unfamiliar with the country, which she later reveals she has idealized after learning to love American jazz. Gerte and Godfrey end up getting hastily married, which doesn’t go over well in the Crump family. Both Ernestine and Ermina can’t believe their father would not only remarry less than a year after the death of their mother but also marry a white woman. Lily is also shocked by this development, apparently having thought she and Godfrey might eventually rekindle their romantic feelings for each other. Gerte, however, finds it difficult to understand why it matters if a Black man marries a white woman, revealing a certain inability to grasp the tense and complex dynamics surrounding race relations in the United States. When racists attack Godfrey for being with a white woman, she is more shocked than anyone in the family, once again failing to recognize the ugly reality of American racism. She has a tense relationship with everyone in the Crump family, but Godfrey stands by her, eventually asking Lily to leave in order to protect his marriage to Gerte.
Gerte Quotes in Crumbs from the Table of Joy
The Crumbs from the Table of Joy quotes below are all either spoken by Gerte or refer to Gerte. 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 2, Scene 2
Quotes
LILY. [..] What? I don’t generally do this, but I’ve been nervous as of late.
GERTE. (Sarcastically.) Just how is your … “revolution?” Working hard? You’re spending a lot of time up at the headquarters in Harlem. Where is it exactly?
LILY. Lenox Avenue.
GERTE. That’s right, Lenox Avenue. I haven’t heard you mention it in quite some time. (Lily stands.)
ERNESTINE. Yeah, you ain’t said much.
LILY. ’Cause it’s liable to end up in one of your essays. You got too much imagination to keep a simple secret.
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GERTE. Can’t you forget our differences behind this closed door. When I see you I see no color. I see Lily. (She lights a cigarette.)
LILY. Well when I see ya I see a white woman, and when I look in the mirror I see a Negro woman. All that in the confines in this here room. How about that? What do you see Ernie? You see any differences between us?
ERNESTINE. Yeah.
LILY. There you go.
GERTE. May I say to you both, I have seen what happens when we permit our differences—
LILY. (Enraged.) Don’t lecture me about race. You are the last person on earth I’d look to for guidance.
LILY. […] You expecting too much from that blanched mess of fabric. What’s it gonna get you?
ERNESTINE. I’m gonna graduate in it. I’ll be grown.
LILY. Grown. You think ’cause you got a diploma you grown. You’ll be ready to step out that door in your white dress and get a job or a husband.
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Act 2, Scene 3
Quotes
GERTE. So where are the warriors in your revolution now? Why don’t they help us? How are we to lead our lives if we can’t go out for a … a picture show on a Saturday night.
LILY. Welcome to our world, […]. You ain’t supposed to period! Stop! Thought you knew about all these things being from Germany and all.
You see Ernestine that’s your America. Negro sitting on his couch with blood dripping down his face. White woman unscathed and the enemy not more than five years back. You can’t bring order to this world. You can’t put up curtains and pot plants and have things change. You really thought you could marry a white woman and enter the kingdom of heaven, didn’t ya?
GODFREY. I’ll make a note to speak to her later.
GERTE. STOP! You’ve assembled lists that run miles and miles. There’s an entire closet crowded with paper and scribbles of things you need to know, things you want to do, questions that must be answered. It would make three lifetimes to get through all of it.
[…]
GERTE. If you’d pay attention to the world around you, you wouldn’t have so many questions to ask.
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Get the entire Crumbs from the Table of Joy LitChart as a printable PDF.
Gerte Quotes in Crumbs from the Table of Joy
The Crumbs from the Table of Joy quotes below are all either spoken by Gerte or refer to Gerte. 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 2, Scene 2
Quotes
LILY. [..] What? I don’t generally do this, but I’ve been nervous as of late.
GERTE. (Sarcastically.) Just how is your … “revolution?” Working hard? You’re spending a lot of time up at the headquarters in Harlem. Where is it exactly?
LILY. Lenox Avenue.
GERTE. That’s right, Lenox Avenue. I haven’t heard you mention it in quite some time. (Lily stands.)
ERNESTINE. Yeah, you ain’t said much.
LILY. ’Cause it’s liable to end up in one of your essays. You got too much imagination to keep a simple secret.
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GERTE. Can’t you forget our differences behind this closed door. When I see you I see no color. I see Lily. (She lights a cigarette.)
LILY. Well when I see ya I see a white woman, and when I look in the mirror I see a Negro woman. All that in the confines in this here room. How about that? What do you see Ernie? You see any differences between us?
ERNESTINE. Yeah.
LILY. There you go.
GERTE. May I say to you both, I have seen what happens when we permit our differences—
LILY. (Enraged.) Don’t lecture me about race. You are the last person on earth I’d look to for guidance.
LILY. […] You expecting too much from that blanched mess of fabric. What’s it gonna get you?
ERNESTINE. I’m gonna graduate in it. I’ll be grown.
LILY. Grown. You think ’cause you got a diploma you grown. You’ll be ready to step out that door in your white dress and get a job or a husband.
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Act 2, Scene 3
Quotes
GERTE. So where are the warriors in your revolution now? Why don’t they help us? How are we to lead our lives if we can’t go out for a … a picture show on a Saturday night.
LILY. Welcome to our world, […]. You ain’t supposed to period! Stop! Thought you knew about all these things being from Germany and all.
You see Ernestine that’s your America. Negro sitting on his couch with blood dripping down his face. White woman unscathed and the enemy not more than five years back. You can’t bring order to this world. You can’t put up curtains and pot plants and have things change. You really thought you could marry a white woman and enter the kingdom of heaven, didn’t ya?
GODFREY. I’ll make a note to speak to her later.
GERTE. STOP! You’ve assembled lists that run miles and miles. There’s an entire closet crowded with paper and scribbles of things you need to know, things you want to do, questions that must be answered. It would make three lifetimes to get through all of it.
[…]
GERTE. If you’d pay attention to the world around you, you wouldn’t have so many questions to ask.
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