If He Hollers Let Him Go

Alice Harrison is Bob’s wealthy, educated, social worker girlfriend. Even though Alice is Black like Bob, she experiences much more privilege than he does because of her lighter skin. In fact, she spends a lot of time in white society attempting to blend in with white people and “pass” for white. Alice loves Bob and wants to marry him, yet she is consistently embarrassed by his refusal to quietly conform to “the system” of white discrimination and segregation. For Alice, who already has a significant amount of privilege despite being a Black woman, working with the system seems like a more viable way to live than tearing the system apart.

In a way, Alice is a foil to Bob’s character: All of her views on how to behave as a Black person, how to respond to racism and discrimination, and how to pursue equality stand in glaring opposition to Bob’s. These clashing views are a source of endless conflict and pain for both Bob and Alice throughout the novel, and they ultimately to the end of their relationship when Bob asks Alice for help fleeing false rape charges and—consistent with her views throughout the novel—Alice insists that Bob conform to the system by getting a lawyer and fighting the charges in court. Alice’s character embodies the perspective of a person who is a conformist and, consequently, anti-revolution. Alice represents those whose socioeconomic privilege allows them to function comfortably within an oppressive system, giving them no reason to attempt to overturn that system even if the system’s structures actively hurt people they know and care about.

Madge Perkins is the white, “peroxide blonde” woman from Texas who calls Bob a racist slur when he asks her to help him with a project while working at the shipyard. Madge chronically acts as if she is terrified of Black men, but also acts sexually seductive and promiscuous when it seems like Bob might be interested in her. She ultimately accuses Bob of raping her when he rejects her sexual advances, getting him beaten nearly to death at work, fired from his job, and forcibly enlisted in the army.

Madge’s character represents the false—albeit widely accepted—notion that the white race has an inherent purity that sets it apart from people of color. Madge believes so strongly in the social value of her whiteness that she is willing to lie about a serious crime in order to show Bob that her whiteness holds more social capital—i.e., power—than his Blackness. Although Madge expects white male society to protect her purity from Black men at all costs, she behaves and dresses promiscuously, taunting Bob with her body in an effort to seduce him. While Madge believes her whiteness makes her pure, she also believes it makes her desirable. From Madge’s perspective, all Black people—particularly Black men—want to be with her solely on the basis of her whiteness, because it is something that they do not have. This could explain Madge’s repeated act of pretending to be terrified of Bob every time they cross paths. Madge is so confident in the allure of her whiteness that she believes that every Black man who approaches her does so with the desire to have sex with her.

Johnny Stoddart is a young, blond-haired white man who knocks Bob out during a game of craps at work, calling him a racist slur in the process. Johnny is mean and cold, and Bob is fixated on the possibility of killing him for much of the novel. Bob’s obsession with murdering Johnny seems to be a placeholder for Bob’s desire for a full-scale revolution against white society. Even though Bob cannot overthrow white society on his own, the prospect of killing Johnny Stoddart gives him a sense of control, a goal to work toward, and the promise of some justice.

Johnny openly exemplifies the attitude that Bob sees bubbling beneath the surface in most white characters he encounters: intense racist hatred toward Black folks and the desire to act violently toward them because of that hatred. Like Madge, Johnny gets away with what he does to Bob, and, like Madge, he knows he will get away with it from the very beginning because he understands that the American justice system is rigged in his favor.

Ella Mae’s family shares an apartment with Bob. Ella Mae is Bob’s occasional romantic partner when her husband, a soldier, is deployed. Ella Mae often helps Bob out at the apartment, making him coffee and helping him get ready for work. She also calls Bob out on his obsession with whiteness and white folks.

Dr. and Mrs. Harrison are Alice’s parents who have, by virtue of their willingness to play by white society’s rules, found themselves in a secure socioeconomic position. Like Alice, they also believe that conforming is the best way to live in a primarily white world, and when Bob challenges those ideas, they become visibly uncomfortable. Like Alice, they represent both the potential—and cost—of playing by discriminatory rules.

Mr. MacDougal, or Mac, is the department superintendent at the shipyard and Bob’s boss. When Bob and Madge get into their altercation, Mac is the one who decides to demote Bob from leaderman to a mechanic. He is unwilling to consider that Bob might have been in the right, and he punishes Bob for his insubordination. In doing so, Mac also reinforces the power structures of the shipyard and, by extension, society. Giving Bob any kind of power is dangerous in that it challenges the “white is right” idea that fuels society. Instead, it is easier for Mac to maintain the status quo, even when Bob tries to play by the rules toward the end of the novel.