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76 pages 2 hours read

Langston Hughes

Not Without Laughter

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1930

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Chapters 5-11Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 5 Summary: “Guitar”

Everyone in the neighborhood knows that Jimboy is home on Saturday because they can hear him singing the blues and playing his guitar. Hager, who only wants to hear hymns, tells him to put the guitar away. Now it is Monday night, and Jimboy is playing blues on the guitar, with Harriet stepping in to sing with him and dance from time to time. Jimboy tells Harriet she is as good as Ada Walker (a famous vaudeville performer). Hager tells them to stop, but they ignore her.

Their neighbor Mr. Johnson says the singing and dancing remind him of plantation days, but Hager tells him that the singing and dancing are of the devil. Harriet and Jimboy have no business singing and dancing in front of Sandy and Willie Mae. The children like what they see, however. Harriet sings “Easy Rider,” and a recent breakup and the sound of Jimboy’s guitar add a touch of authentic pain and longing to the song.

Annjee returns home and proudly tells Jimboy she has a piece of ham for him. Although he tells her he will come in to eat it soon, he stays out and continues playing and singing with Harriet. Annjee is jealous; Jimboy has been teaching Harriet ragtime, blues, and popular dances since Harriet was a little girl. Their actions seem to be clean fun until you listen to the provocative lyrics and watch the movements of the dances, which are all about the movement of the hips. Neither Jimboy nor Harriet thinks about the music this way, though.

When Jimboy, suddenly conscious that he has been ignoring his wife (he has been all weekend), politely calls out to Annjee to sing one song, she tells him she doesn’t know the words. Annjee feels ashamed that her overwhelming love for her husband has made her think that there was something between Jimboy and Harriet. Still, “he might have dropped the guitar and left Harriet” to spend time with his wife (36).

After a long blues song, Hager requests a hymn, but Jimboy ends up playing “Casey Jones” at the request of Mr. Johnson. As Jimboy plays, he remembers the time W.C. Handy, the “father of the blues” told him that he should become a professional musician. He never followed through, though. Jimboy plays a blues song about a man who is missing his woman while he is locked up in jail. He plays many more songs. Hager tells him it is late and asks him to play a religious song before they all go to bed. Instead, he plays a dirty song in the style of evangelical church music while Harriet dances the ball-the-jack (a popular dance that required lots of movement in the hips).

Annjee interrupts the performance, insisting that Sandy and her husband come inside. Jimboy laughs, embraces Annjee, and tells her he knows she doesn’t like his music. He sweet-talks her and at last, sits down to eat the food she brought him. Everyone else eventually comes in, and Harriet makes an unkind joke when she sees that her sister is sitting on Jimboy’s lap. The entire family finally goes to sleep with the sound of the train whistle blowing.

Chapter 6 Summary: “Work”

One summer morning, Sandy’s mother wakes him early. She will be participating in a rehearsal for a parade of nations and needs Sandy to help her at her job that evening so she can arrive on time for the rehearsal. Jimboy, despite Hager’s disgust with his most recent lay-off from work, decides to take Sandy fishing. As the two depart, Jimboy tells his son, “Don’t never let no woman worry you” (42). He advises Sandy to instead treat them like chickens by giving them a little feed from time to time but not so much they come to expect it regularly.

The two stay out so late into the afternoon fishing that Sandy is late in going to help his mother. When he arrives, his mother is flustered and tired. She fusses when Mrs. Rice demands toast instead of biscuits. When Mrs. Rice comes in after the meal to reprimand Annjee about the food served, Sandy begins to cry over the treatment Annjee receives and her stoic response to it. She tells him to stop crying, assuming that he is crying over being forced to help her. She packs up the scraps left over from the Rices’ steak dinner to take home after doling out a small portion to Sandy.

After Sandy helps her finish cleaning, the two walk home. When they arrive home, Annjee is relieved and tells Sandy, “Evening’s the only time we niggers have to ourselves!…Thank God for night…’cause all day you gives to white folks” (47).

Chapter 7 Summary: “White Folks”

Annjee is disappointed to discover when she and Sandy arrive home that Hager and Jimboy have already had a meal of the fish Jimboy caught earlier with Sandy. Jimboy follows Annjee into the house, as she gets ready, while Sandy sits out on the porch and listens to Mrs. Johnson, Harriet, and his grandmother talk.

When Mrs. Johnson asks Harriet why she isn’t out at a party that night, Harriet tells her that her new job at the hotel makes her so tired that she stays in at night. Hager says she is glad Harriet stays in and asks if she will go to church as well. Harriet says she won’t.

Mrs. Johnson is sympathetic about her refusal because in her day, churches were good places; these days, the ministers are constantly asking for money. There is no need to even consider "white folks’ religion" because of the hypocrisy of their racism (49). Hager agrees with her. Annjee comes out, chiming in that Mrs. Rice thinks nothing of playing cards on Sundays and never prays. Jimboy counters that people, especially African Americans, ought to have fun and see what’s going on in the world on Sundays instead of going to church after a week of working. Jimboy leaves to accompany Annjee part of the way to the rehearsal.

Harriet says she agrees with Jimboy. She also says that whites, unlike African Americans, focus on making money rather than being religious. If they were not so unkind to African Americans, Harriet says, she would agree with this approach to life. When Harriet says she hates whites because of their racism, Hager chides her; it isn’t Christian to hate whites. Having lived as a slave and observed whites, Hager believes they are no worse than most people but have a blind spot when it comes to African Americans.

Jimboy returns and tells her maybe African Americans are too dark for whites to see: they should get whiter. Mrs. Johnson responds, insulting his lighter skin tone and says she cannot agree with Hager. White people are cruel. She then tells a familiar story, one about how whites, including ones for whom she had served as a wet nurse, helped to run her and her African-American neighbors out of a Mississippi town just after the Civil War.

She and her African-American neighbors lived on the edge of Crowville, Mississippi. After the war, they began to accumulate property and improve their homes by painting them, for example. The local whites began to complain about the prosperity of the African Americans in town. Things came to a head when an African-American man bought a car and shot (but did not kill) a white man who beat him because he thought an African American had no right to own a car.

The African-American man escaped to Vicksburg by river boat, but his remaining African-American neighbors were rousted from their beds and homes by an angry mob of whites, who said they were "gwine teach dem Crowville niggers a lesson, all of ’em, paintin’ dey houses an’ buyin’ cars an’ livin’ like white folks"(52). In a nearby field, Mrs. Johnson and her neighbors prayed to God to preserve them as the whites burned their homes. Every African American left the town the next day for towns and cities further north, some of them with little more than their clothing. A stunned silence follows her recitation of the story; Sandy is upset by what he has heard.

Jimboy says with some bitterness that he knows about Southern whites. Harriet reiterates her hatred of whites, and Hager tells her that God hears what she says. Harriet angrily responds that both Hager and Annjee accept poor treatment and pay from whites without complaint.

Jimboy says whites do underpay African Americans. He remembers the time he was fired from a construction job because he wasn’t in the union. When he complained to his boss that the unions wouldn’t admit him because of his race, the boss told him that was his problem. Mrs. Johnson says the same thing has happened to her husband. Whites, says Jimboy, “are like farmers that own all the cows and let the niggers take care of ’em. Then they make you pay a sweet price for skimmed milk and keep the cream for themselves” (54). Everyone laughs.

Harriet then tells a story about a white canning factory owner who prospered by underpaying the African-American women who worked for him. He donated funds for an undersized orphanage for African-American children. He did so because he wanted black and white orphans segregated: He thought, "The two races oughtn’t to mix!"(54) Harriet scoffs at this idea since so many racially mixed African-American women work in his canning factory. Hager says these women live in the Bottoms where the brothels are and that it is shameful that white men keep such places in business.

Harriet mocks Hager and thinks about how she first realized the extent of whites’ cruelty and racism when three white boys had pulled her Afro-textured braids and called her “Blackie” when she went over to play. Her African-American friends had laughed at her because they agreed with the white boys. She never forgot it. Although the white girls at her school claimed to like her because she could sing and dance, their friendship never extended to inviting her to socialize with them after school hours, especially once the white girls began dating.

Just weeks before, Harriet says, she and her black classmates had been forced to the black section of the Palace Theater during a special showing that was to have been for her entire class. Neither her white teacher nor her white peers said anything when she left.

Another time, when Harriet accidentally broke a pitcher while working as a domestic, her white female employer yelled at her, calling her an “impudent wench" and all black women "careless sluts" (56-57). The only reason this woman hired black domestic help was because she could pay them less. Whites, regardless of the region, see African Americans as objects and exploitable labor. They expect African Americans to bear this ill treatment with a smile. Because of this state of affairs, Harriet says she hates them all. When she repeats this over and over again, Sandy becomes fearful.

Chapter 8 Summary: “Dance”

Annjee is forced to take ten unpaid days off when Mrs. Rice and her family go on vacation. Hoping for good meals and work for Jimboy, Annjee arranges for the two of them to go stay in the country on a farm owned by a cousin.

Back at home, Hager is working hard to launder clothes one night. She has grounded Harriet for staying out very late one night. Hager even threatened to whip Harriet for her behavior, so the two are not getting along. Just a few moments after Harriet arrives home, Jimmy Lane comes to the door to ask for Hager’s help in treating his mother, Mrs. Lane, who is hemorrhaging from her mouth because of her tuberculosis. Jimmy’s family is so poor that he is forced to wear his mother’s shoes to school. Hager tells Sandy not to stay up too late and leaves.

Mingo, Harriet’s dark, handsome boyfriend, shows up minutes later and attempts to convince Harriet to go with him to a dance at Chaver's Hall that night. When she protests she cannot because she has to watch her brother, Sandy says he can go with them. Mingo grudgingly agrees to the plan, and they walk to the dance hall. When they arrive at the dance hall, “Easy Rider” is playing loudly, and the couple joins the other couples dancing on the floor.

As the songs play, Sandy sits with a few other children in folding chairs along the wall. During an intermission, Maudel gives Sandy money to buy some food. Although Sandy is aware that Hager dislikes Maudel and that Maudel wears too much makeup, he likes her. Sandy buys a fish sandwich, which he shares with a little girl, and watches along with the crowd as his aunt expertly dances with someone other than her boyfriend. Sandy gets more money when he goes to the dirty restroom and accidentally interrupts some men talking about the sexual prowess of some of the women they know. He buys a soda and watches as the crowd gets carried away by the racy, loud music, dominated by the drums and the coronet.

Despite the late hour, Harriet continues to dance. She and her boyfriend abandon Sandy after giving him more money for soda and caramel corn. Sandy finds an unused balcony and falls asleep. He drifts in and out of sleep, waking once when Benbow’s band plays “St. Louis Blues.” As he sleeps, the band, “four homeless, plug-ugly niggers […] playing mean old loveless blues in a hot, crowded little dancehall in a Kansas town on Friday night” plays songs that veer between the blues and early jazz (68). Sandy is awakened by the frantic cries of Harriet. She takes him past a fighting couple.

It is almost daylight again, and Sandy feels proud because this is the first time he has spent all night out. Harriet, however, is upset and blames Mingo for keeping her out. Mingo refuses to take the blame and points out that he tried to get her to leave at midnight, but she was too entangled with her dance partner. When she tells Mingo she is afraid to go home, he reassures her by telling her they can get married if Hager puts her out. She calms down then, and they make their way home. After saying goodbye to Mingo, she and Sandy walk the rest of the way home. When they arrive home, Hager is sitting on the porch with her Bible and a bundle of switches.

Chapter 9 Summary: “Carnival”

Weeks later, the carnival and an outdoor religious revival come to town at the same time. While Hager, Annjee, and a reluctant Sandy go to the revival every night, Jimboy, Maudel, and Harriet (despite her mother’s prayers) go to the carnival. The tension between the two groups is exacerbated because Harriet refuses to speak to her mother since Hager whipped her the morning after the dance at Chaver’s and because Annjee and Jimboy are so angry at each other that they came home early.

Sandy finally gets to go to the carnival as a bribe from Jimboy to stop him from crying when he steps on a rusty nail on Thursday. Hager agrees to the plan: Sandy is such a distraction during the revival services that she despairs of him ever getting saved. When Jimboy says he hopes Sandy won’t get saved, the two begin arguing as usual.

An impatient Sandy has to wait until four in the afternoon to go to the carnival. Few acts are on because it is early in the day, but Jimboy buys Sandy food and takes him to see one act. When Jimboy sits down to talk with some friends shooting dice, Sandy grows bored and gets permission to wander off.

Sandy runs into Earl, a white friend, shortly after, and they slip into a minstrel show. Two African-American women (one dancing and another playing the piano) are part of the act. At the end of the act, the two boys watch as a man fondles the breasts of the piano player—Maudel, as it turns out—and another prances in front of the dancer—Harriet. The boys leave.

When darkness comes, Sandy reunites with his father, eats carnival food, and sees the attractions. He says nothing of what he saw earlier, however, since his policy is not to meddle or tattle when it comes to the affairs of the three women with whom he lives. He and his father end up at the minstrel show later. The show includes stereotypical black characters that “the audience thought…screamingly funny—and just like niggers” (76). The show doesn’t get entertaining until a blues-playing banjo player comes on. Jimboy points out to Sandy that the man is talented. Sandy finds the music sad, but “the white people around him laughed” (77).

Jimboy has to carry Sandy home after the show because his foot is hurting so much from the puncture wound. When they arrive home, Annjee and Hager are still out and attending to Mrs. Lane, who has worsened. When Harriet comes in much later and finds Sandy feverish and moaning, she cleans his foot. He falls asleep. In the morning, Annjee sends out for a piece of bacon rind (a folk remedy designed to treat tetanus), but the foot has worsened by that evening. Sandy is left home with Harriet that night.

As he falls asleep, Sandy worries about Mrs. Lane, thinks with dread about going to the fifth grade, and remembers the welts on Harriet’s legs after Hager whipped her on the morning after the dance at Chaver’s. Through the door, he can see Harriet packing her things in a cardboard suitcase. Thinking Sandy is asleep, Harriet comes in to give him a hug. Sandy hugs her tightly and asks where she is going. She tells him she is leaving with the carnival, swears him to secrecy, then leaves.

Chapter 10 Summary: “Punishment”

The next day (Sunday), the doctor comes to treat Sandy’s foot. Hager continues to use her folk remedy, and the foot eventually begins to heal. Now that Harriet is gone, Sandy moves from his pallet on the floor and takes Harriet’s place in Hager’s bed. He is unable to sleep, however, and his nights are frequently interrupted with confusing dreams about Harriet’s dancing and the beating she received from Hager. His sleep is also disturbed at times by the sounds he recognizes as his parents making love in the next room.

Sandy spends his summer days helping Hager around the house, playing with Willie Mae and Buster, or wandering around with some rough boys from the Bottoms. Hager sometimes sends him to the store to buy items, but he is so absent-minded that he frequently gets the wrong items. One place he is not allowed, however, is across the street—the white children there had called him “nigger.” On other afternoons, he is forced to sit inside as pompous Madame de Carter reads the children Bible stories, or he snatches a few moments of dancing to Jimboy’s guitar-playing until Hager puts a stop to it (she blames Jimboy for Harriet’s departure).

On Sundays, Sandy goes to Sunday school. He finds the lessons boring, but he is always glad to take the nickel Hager gives him to put in the collection basket. Instead of donating it, he usually spends the nickel on candy for himself and his friends. One Sunday, Hager discovers some leftover candy stuck in his pocket. When Hager asks where he got the money to buy candy, Sandy claims that Madame de Carter gave it to him. When Madame de Carter comes by later, he is caught in his lie.

Hager is disappointed and threatens to whip him. He lies again and says he only spent a penny of the nickel, but Hager finds this unbelievable since he had leftovers. His father comes in during the conversation. Despite Sandy’s expectation that Jimboy will defend him, Jimboy gives him a stern lecture. He tells Sandy that there is nothing worse than a liar and a thief. Whites may lie and steal—even some African Americans do—but Jimboy says he would rather be poor than dishonest. Sandy is a liar, Jimboy says. Sandy finds his father’s disappointment so hard to bear that he is forced to hold back tears. Jimboy ends his lecture by leaving and slamming the door behind him. Hager doesn’t whip Sandy, but Jimboy’s lecture makes him cry so hard that he is still in bed when Annjee comes home.

Chapter 11 Summary: “School”

That fall Sandy makes the transition from his all-black school to the racially integrated school. Sandy is immediately confronted with segregation when the teacher seats the white children by last name but places all the black children in the back row because of their color. While one of his black peers is angered by this discrimination, Sandy feels tearful.

When he arrives home that afternoon for lunch with a list of books he needs for school, Hager complains about the cost, but Jimboy gives Sandy the money for his textbooks, leaving Jimboy with just a dime in his wallet. He hugs Sandy awkwardly after giving him the money and tells him not to worry about it.

Sandy does have some victories that day: He is the last boy and African American standing during a fifth-grade vocabulary spelling bee between the boys and girls in his class. After school, he and Buster go downtown to buy their books, but they return home because the store is too crowded. When he gets home, he discovers that his father has left again. Hager, as usual, complains of his laziness and claims she is glad he is gone again.

Chapters 5-11 Analysis

These chapters are bookended by Jimboy's arrival and departure. They also show the way that Sandy's coming of age is shaped, not just by his relationship with his family, but also by larger forces such as race, class, and culture.

As a model of masculinity, Jimboy is largely absent from Sandy's life. He nevertheless serves as an influence on Sandy's life in several important ways. Jimboy's first major contribution to Sandy is the blues music he plays on his guitar and that he helps Sandy to learn to listen to at the carnival. Sandy's exposure to the blues is a key part of his understanding of working-class and black culture.

Jimboy influences Sandy in his insistence on the importance of personal integrity. His stern lecture to Sandy after he spends his church offering on candy and lies to Hager about it is one of the few moments when Jimboy, who has a much looser moral code than Hager, directly instructs Sandy on morality.

Jimboy also serves as an example to Sandy of what he does not want to be as an adult. Sandy embraces Hager's idea that he should be gainfully employed and a great man. As Sandy grows older, he determines that he will be a person with a stable home and a large family, all of which are choices that can be read as a rejection of his father's choices.

Although family plays a crucial role in Sandy's sense of identity, it is clear that outside forces pressure him, moving him from childhood to adulthood. Listening in on the stories about the cruelty and racism of whites helps Sandy to understand the outsized presence that whites have in the lives of seemingly all-powerful African-American adults. Mrs. Rice's careless and disrespectful treatment of Sandy's mother, for example, comes as a painful shock to Sandy. In school, he witnesses institutionalized racism when his teacher places all the African-American children in the back row of the classroom. The stories he later hears about whites help him to understand that whites exercise economic power over people like his mother and Harriet. These events are the unfortunate rites of passage that welcome the African-American child into the hostile, racist world that exists outside of home.

Not all of the experiences related to African-American identity are negative ones for Sandy, however. Music is an important presence in Sandy's life, from his father's blues guitar playing at night to the rhythms of ragtime and jazz that Sandy hears the night he accompanies Harriet and Mingo to Chaver's Hall. Jimboy's guitar playing, audible to the entire neighborhood, draws everyone together in a moment of respite from family and racial tensions.

The music in Chaver's Hall, presented by Hughes using stream of consciousness, is a primal force that exposes Sandy to the creativity of African-American culture. The joy of the dancers in the hall and the sheer physical presence of "the lemon-yellow, coal-black, powder-grey, ebony-black, blue-black faces; chocolate, brown, orange, tan, creamy-gold faces" give Sandy a sense of African American identity and of gender that counters the staid, old-fashioned notions of Hager and the pretentious rejection of working-class African-American culture by Tempy (65). This introduction to African-American culture via its musical traditions is an important counter to the perversion of that tradition that Sandy witnesses when he goes to the carnival.

Both Jimboy and Harriet—finally unable to tolerate her mother's restrictions any longer—depart by the end of this section of the narrative, presaging a dark turn in the mood in the novel.

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