Tommy's assertions of her own autonomy and pride in her race make up the pattern of symbolic action of the play. From the beginning, Tommy displays these qualities unconsciously in her behavior. By asking Oldtimer's real name, something his friends have never bothered to do, she shows respect for another black person. "I'll call you Oldtimer like the rest but I like to know who I'm meetin'," she says. Later in this scene, Tommy explains that, although she could keep house for a white family on Park Avenue, she prefers to work in a factory and live among her black friends in Harlem. In her scene with Cynthia, Tommy says that she never gave up dating white men as Cynthia did. "I never had none to give up," she says. "I'm not soundin' on you. White.....
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