In “Boy on a Train,” the butcher is “a big, fat white man with a red face” who frequently comes to the baggage car where James and his family are seated in order to retrieve candy and magazines, which he sells to white passengers in the other cars. Mama explains that the butcher groped her before the story began, and James hopes in vain that he will give him some candy. The butcher’s behavior shows how Jim Crow gave ordinary white people power over ordinary Black people by tilting the legal and economic system in their favor.
The White Butcher Quotes in The Black Ball
The The Black Ball quotes below are all either spoken by The White Butcher or refer to The White Butcher. 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:
).
Boy on a Train
Quotes
The butcher had tried to touch her breasts when she and the boys first came into the car, and she had spat in his face and told him to keep his dirty hands where they belonged. The butcher had turned red and gone hurriedly out of the car, his baskets swinging violently on his arms. She hated him. Why couldn’t a Negro woman travel with her two boys without being molested?
Related Characters:
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Explanation and Analysis:
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The White Butcher Quotes in The Black Ball
The The Black Ball quotes below are all either spoken by The White Butcher or refer to The White Butcher. 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:
).
Boy on a Train
Quotes
The butcher had tried to touch her breasts when she and the boys first came into the car, and she had spat in his face and told him to keep his dirty hands where they belonged. The butcher had turned red and gone hurriedly out of the car, his baskets swinging violently on his arms. She hated him. Why couldn’t a Negro woman travel with her two boys without being molested?
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
