Study Questions
1. What does the narrator notice about life in Harlem?

2. Why does the narrator decide not to approach Emma?

3. When Sybil fantasizes about the narrator, whom does she put in his place, mentally speaking?

4. What does Sybil tell the narrator she thinks she is?

5. What does the narrator write on Sybil’s belly?

6. What is Sybil’s favorite word for the narrator?

7. Does the narrator succeed in making Sybil think he raped her?

8. What is the first thing the narrator wonders when he gets the phone call from Harlem?

9. What does Sybil call the narrator just before she leaves for the last time, and how does he respond?

10. What reason does the narrator give for taking the bus to Harlem?

Answers
1. The narrator notices that Harlem is, as he puts it, “coming apart at the seams.” He describes crowds and violence.

2. The narrator decides not to approach Emma because, even if she would sleep with him, she would hardly be likely to give him any information about the Brotherhood.

3. When Sybil fantasizes about the narrator, she puts Joe Louis and Paul Robeson in the narrator’s place.

4. Sybil tells the narrator she thinks she is a nymphomaniac.

5. The narrator writes, “SYBIL, YOU WERE RAPED BY SANTA CLAUS SURPRISE,” on Sybil’s belly.

6. Sybil’s favorite word for the narrator is “boo’ful,” which is short for “beautiful.”

7. Yes, the narrator succeeds in making Sybil think that he raped her, by pretending that he does not know her name.

8. The first thing the narrator wonders when he gets the phone call from Harlem is whether it is a trick.

9. Just before leaving the narrator for the last time, Sybil calls him an “ole dictator,” to which the narrator responds, “A game stud … a most game stud.”

10. The reason the narrator gives himself for taking the bus for Harlem is that if Sybil looks for him again, she will not find him.