評論
打印
Geraldine did not allow her baby, Junior, to cry. As long as his needs were physical, she could meet them—comfort and satiety. He was always brushed, bathed, oiled, and shod. Geraldine did not talk to him, coo to him, or indulge him in kissing bouts, but she saw that every other desire was fulfilled. It was not long before the child discovered the difference in his mother's behavior to himself and the cat. As he grew older, he learned how to direct his hatred of his mother to the cat, and spent some happy moments watching it suffer. The cat survived, because Geraldine was seldom away from home, and could effectively soothe the animal when Junior abused him.
杰蘿丹不許她的孩子裘尼爾哭鬧。只要他的需求是物質性的——舒適與溫飽，她總能滿足。她總是不停地給他梳洗打扮。杰蘿丹不和孩子談笑逗樂，也不親吻溺愛，可是孩子其他方面的要求她都予以滿足。沒過多久孩子就覺察出他母親對他和對貓的態度不一樣。他長大一些后就學會如何把對母親的仇恨轉嫁給那只貓，并從小貓的痛苦之中著實獲得過一些快樂。貓咪之所以仍活著是因為杰蘿丹難得出門，當貓受到裘尼爾的虐待之后能有效地安撫它。
Geraldine, Louis, Junior, and the cat lived next to the playground of Washington Irving School. Junior considered the playground his own, and the schoolchildren coveted his freedom to sleep late, go home for lunch, and dominate the playground after school. He hated to see the swings, slides, monkey bars, and seesaws empty and tried to get kids to stick around as long as possible. White kids; his mother did not like him to play with niggers. She had explained to him the difference between colored people and niggers. They were easily identifiable. Colored people were neat and quiet; niggers were dirty and loud. He belonged to the former group—he wore white shirts and blue trousers; his hair was cut as close to his scalp as possible to avoid any suggestion of wool, the part was etched into his hair by the barber. In winter his mother put Jergens Lotion on his face to keep the skin from becoming ashen. Even though he was light-skinned, it was possible to ash. The line between colored and nigger was not always clear; subtle and telltale signs threatened to erode it, and the watch had to be constant.
杰蘿丹、路易斯·裘尼爾以及貓咪住在華盛頓·歐文學校操場邊的一幢房子里。裘尼爾認為整個操場歸他所有。學校所有的孩子都羨慕他能晚睡晚起，能中午回家吃飯，放學之后能霸占整個操場。而他則看不得操場上無人蕩秋千，滑滑梯，爬攀登架，玩蹺蹺板，總是想方設法盡可能長時間地留人玩。他要找白人孩子玩，她媽媽不讓他和黑孩子玩。她跟他解釋過有色人與黑人之間的差別。兩者很容易區別。有色人整潔安靜；黑人骯臟吵鬧。他厲于前者：他穿的是白襯衫藍褲子；頭發剃到發根以免露出黑人的鬈發，頭路是理發師燙出的一條印兒。冬天，她母親在他臉上涂采婷潤膚露，使他臉色不致變得灰內。盡管他的膚色還箅淺，也有可能變得灰甶。有色人與黑人之間的界限并不總是那么分明；一些細微但顯露實情的標記會使界限變得模糊，因此必須保持髙度警惕。
