Part 1: Chapter 3–Part 1: Chapter 5 Summary and Analysis
Chapter 3
Nella and Hazel have been cubicle-mates for two weeks, but Nella still finds it difficult to adjust to the scent of Hazel’s new hair grease. However, Nella and Hazel bond over a shared love of Black literature. Both women have coffee mugs painted with Zora Neale Hurston’s portrait. Hazel tells Nella her mug was painted by her boyfriend, an artist. Although Nella is having a very busy morning, Hazel’s mention of the book Burning Heart stops Nella in her tracks. One of Nella’s favorite novels, the feminist text was the product of a collaboration between author Diana Gordon and editor Kendra Rae Phillips, both Black women. Nella is delighted that Hazel loves the novel, too, and tells her she has written an unpublished thesis on books borne out of all-Black women teams. Hazel encourages Nella to publish her thesis, which warms Nella’s heart. The women discuss Kendra Rae Phillips, the Black editor behind Burning Heart. Phillips used to work at Wagner before she went missing decades ago. Though Nella is enjoying her conversation with Hazel, she needs to return to work. Promising Hazel that they will meet for lunch the next day, Nella returns to her workstation. She is surprised to notice Hazel still hanging about, an empty expression on her face.
Chapter 4
As Nella and Hazel have lunch together the following day, Nella opens up about her misgiving around Colin’s Needles and Pins. Hazel agrees that Colin’s portrayal of women of color, such as that of a Mexican woman in a previous novel, has always been problematic. Finding the name Shartricia as ludicrous as Nella does, Hazel encourages Nella to share her true feelings with Vera and Colin. However, Nella is still skeptical, since her experience with broaching matters around race at Wagner has been far from smooth. She is afraid her feedback will put Colin on the defensive. Hazel counters that while white people bristle at the merest suggestion of being called racist, Black folks have been called much worse for centuries. She suggests to Nella that she cease taking white sensitivity into account and tell Vera what she really thinks. Nella is surprised at Hazel’s passionate views, since Hazel has appeared sanguine around race politics till now. Hazel informs Nella that her passion arises partly from her family’s suffering: Hazel’s grandfather was killed in police firing at a Civil Rights protest in 1961.
Empathizing with Hazel, Nella wonders aloud if her career prospects at Wagner will be hampered by being open with Vera and Colin. To Nella’s surprise, Hazel defends Vera and questions Nella’s own privilege as a woman born in a well-to-do Black family. Wondering where Hazel’s “Black Panther spirit” has gone, Nella begins to second-guess herself again. Though the lunch ends in solidarity, Nella feels thrown off by Hazel’s switches in personality.
Chapter 5
Nella is nervous at her meeting with Vera and Colin. As she readies to share her feedback, Nella draws courage from the fact that Vera has always prompted her to speak her mind. Nella is reasonably confident that given Vera’s knack of deftly handling authors, the older woman will smooth over any rough edges that arise during their dialogue. However, as Vera heaps praise on Colin’s manuscript, Nella feels queasy about following with a critique. Nella discusses all the passages she enjoyed but then draws Colin’s attention to the problematic description of Shartricia. Though Colin initially appears open to Nella’s feedback, Nella can feel the atmosphere in the room grow icy as she delves into the specifics of her critique. As she tells Colin that Shartricia...
(This entire section contains 1104 words.)
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feels like “a collection of tropes,” even Vera seems to grow defensive. Nella is shocked when instead of defending her, Vera suggests Nella is being a racist in assuming Shartricia is a stereotype. Meanwhile, an enraged Colin hotly defends his writing. As Vera attempts to calm him down, Colin abruptly storms out of the meeting. Nella tries to smooth things over with Vera to no avail.
Analysis
Chapters 3–5 show exactly why young Black women like Nella feel so pressured about expressing their truth. How is it possible for Nella to observe and oppose racism in a manufactured atmosphere which does not notice color in the first place? Thus, Nella hesitates to bring up the problematic description of Shartricia. The very name is a caricature, a white author’s idea of what a poor Black woman obsessed with the color chartreuse would name her daughter. It is the white author who is being insensitive about the depiction of a Black character, yet Nella is the one who has to contend with appeasing his fragile ego. When Nella does express her feedback, it results in Colin storming off in a rage.
Significantly, Vera, who has always encouraged Nella to say her piece, refuses to ally with Nella during her difficult conversation with Colin. Clearly, Nella is at the bottom of the pecking order and the most expendable in this power structure. Vera’s siding with Colin, a celebrity author, reveals how the forces of capitalism and white privilege collude to suppress individualistic voices of color. Given these tensions and perils, office life is a tightrope walk for Nella. The suggestion that she can simply leave her job if dissatisfied assumes that Nella has the choice of a better workplace. However, the truth is that the publishing industry is overwhelmingly white, limiting Nella’s options.
This section builds up to the halcyon period of Nella’s friendship with Hazel. Eager for a Black ally, Nella tends to excuse many of the inconsistencies in Hazel’s character, such as her clinginess around Nella and her sudden switches in opinion. It is obvious to the reader that there is something sinister about Hazel, but the peculiarities of Nella’s situation mean she arrives late to the realization. Nella’s confusion around Hazel is often captured with humor and pop culture references, such as when Nella notes Hazel can go from affecting “Baraka to Barack”—referencing the radical author Amiri Baraka and the moderate Barack Obama—in a matter of seconds. This tone of humor especially becomes prominent in Nella’s conversations with her best friend, Malaika, who serves as a funny, savvy voice of clarity amid the confusion Nella is experiencing. The irony in Nella’s search for a kindred soul is that she already has one in the form of Malaika. Nella’s hankering for Hazel, despite Hazel’s sabotage of her, suggests there is something sinister at work in the dynamic between Nella and Hazel.
Prologue–Part 1: Chapter 2 Summary and Analysis
Part II: Kendra Rae (1)–Part II: Shani (1) Summary and Analysis
