Chapter VI Summary

In chapter six, Zeddy is jealous that Jake is in a long-term relationship with Rose and wants to find a regular woman. Zeddy gets his chance when he is invited to Ginhead Susy's party. Susy is a dark-skinned black woman who is heavily built, though well-dressed. Susy had been married at an early age to a light-skinned Negro man who left her at the age of eighteen. Since then, Susy has been trying to get a new man who is yellow-skinned, but has met little success. Susy is driven crazy when a yellow-skinned lover leaves her after a while and even steals her oven range.

Susy starts to change under the influence of her new woman friend, named Lavinia Curdy, and usually called Miss Curdy. Miss Curdy is thin and not too attractive, with a purplish streak across her face, and...