Penrod is socially insensitive, and modern readers should be duly offended by Tarkington's racist attitudes toward Jews and toward blacks, whom he describes as "beings in one of those lower stages of evolution." Two black brothers, Herman and Verman, are continuous targets of ridicule, and Tarkington repeatedly refers to them as "darkies." The treatment of these characters in the novel unfortunately reflects, to a large degree, their treatment in early twentieth-century American society, and may serve as a useful basis for discussion about the world of Penrod Schofield.