Chapter 5 (Seethecatitgoesmeowmeowcomeandplaycomeplaywithjane thekittenwillnotplayplayplaypla)

Study Questions
1. Why would a man want to marry a girl like Geraldine, according to the narrator?

2. Where would a woman like Geraldine want her own private parts to be, and why?

3. What does Geraldine smell like?

4. What did Geraldine forbid Junior to do?

5. Who did Junior play with?

6. What does Junior tell his parents when he is beaten up by a bunch of girls?

7. How do Junior’s parents respond to his story?

8. Junior notices that no one ever plays with Pecola. What does he believe is the reason for this?

9. What is Pecola’s first impression of Junior’s house?

10. Geraldine looked at Pecola and decided that she “had seen this little girl all of her life.” Explain what is meant by this phrase.

Answers
1. Men would always want to marry women like Geraldine because they would eat well and live in a clean house.

2. Geraldine would always wish that her private parts would be in a more convenient place, such as her armpit, so that her husband could have sex with her without her needing to take down her dress. Since sex was always an inconvenience to her, she would want to get it over with as quickly as possible.

3. Geraldine smells like wood and vanilla.

4. Geraldine never allowed her son to cry.

5. Junior would only play with Ralph Nisensky, who was two years younger than him and not much fun to be around.

6. Junior tells his parents that he was beaten up by Bay Boy. Bay Boy was one of the boys that teased Pecola until Frieda rescued her.

7. Geraldine was outraged, but Louis, the boy’s father, did not even look up from his paper.

8. Junior decides that no one ever plays with Pecola because she is ugly.

9. Pecola is impressed by the beautiful house.

10. Pecola is the type of girl that Geraldine has hated all her life. She decides that she is going to grow up to have low morals and bad manners. Her parents are loud and obnoxious, and do not have the sense to take care of her. These children “clowned on the playgrounds, broke things in dime stores, [and] ran in front of you on the street.” Geraldine had avoided this type of person all her life.