In order to satirize the black liberals of Harlem, Himes uses the persona of a detached journalist or social historian as his narrator. Often this narrator draws attention to himself as the author of what he describes as a journal or historical treatise. On other occasions he speaks directly to the reader, questioning the validity of his own anecdotes and warning against hasty conclusions. Once he pretends to be concerned for a character's reputation, and claims to have changed her name to save her embarrassment. All these methods of self-reference have the effect of breaking the illusion of reality by emphasizing that the story being told is only a story. They distance both the author and the reader from the characters, helping to prevent any real involvement with them. The characters are presented for ridicule and contempt, never for sympathy.