Preview of Plan B Summary:

One of the defining characteristics of Plan B is Himes's use of the grotesque, a mixture of horror and laughter, in his descriptions of the Harlem slum and the upsurge in racial violence. A case in point comes when a black man interrupts a production of Porgy and Bess, attacking the racism in the work: "Why don't you white mothers leave go them slavery-time songs about lazy sinning black people?" The scene degenerates into a brawl as a young white man tries to silence the black man, who fights back with a knife. Once the black man has been disarmed, Himes's manic humor highlights the grotesque spectacle that ensues: Not only did the blond young man with the slashed chin take charge of the knife, he flaunted it in the black man's face and threatened to cut out his nuts and feed them to the squirrels. But his...