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Ida Scott
Leona is a white woman from the South who meets Rufus at a jazz club and begins dating him. Before coming to New York, Leona was married to a man in the South who abused her and took her children from her. Leona moves to New York in hopes of finding a better life. Unfortunately, she finds Rufus instead, who mercilessly beats and rapes her. No matter how badly Rufus treats Leona, she continues to justify her relationship with him. Leona believes Rufus is a good and redeemable person inside, and she is willing to sacrifice her safety in order to help him. Ultimately, Rufus’s abuse proves too much, and it drives Leona insane. One evening, the police find her wandering around the streets of New York by herself, clearly out of her mind. They bring her to a hospital, and she gets transported down South where she lives out her life in an asylum.
Leona Quotes in Another Country
The Another Country quotes below are all either spoken by Leona or refer to Leona. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Book 1, Chapter 1 Quotes
He had expected her to resist and she did, holding the glass between them and frantically trying to pull her body away from his body’s touch. He knocked the glass out of her hand and it fell dully to the balcony floor, rolling away from them. Go ahead, he thought humorously; if I was to let you go now you’d be so hung up you’d go flying over this balcony, most likely. He whispered, “Go ahead, fight. I like it. Is this the way they do down home?”
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“Rufus,” Leona had said—time and again—“ain’t nothing wrong in being colored.”
Sometimes, when she said this, he simply looked at her coldly, from a great distance, as though he wondered what on earth she was trying to say. His look seemed to accuse her of ignorance and indifference. And, as she watched his face, her eyes became more despairing than ever but at the same time filled with some immense sexual secret which tormented her.
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“Rufus said he’d kill me,” he said, half-smiling.
The taxi stopped beside them. He gave her his keys. She opened the door, keeping her face away from the driver.
“Rufus ain’t going to kill nobody but himself,” she said, “if he don’t find a friend to help him.” She paused, half-in, half-out of the cab. “You the only friend he’s got in the world, Vivaldo.”
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Book 1, Chapter 2 Quotes
“I didn’t love Rufus, not the way you did, the way all of you did. I couldn’t help feeling, anyway, that one of the reasons all of you made such a kind of—fuss—over him was partly just because he was colored. Which is a hell of a reason to love anybody. I just had to look on him as another guy. And I couldn’t forgive him for what he did to Leona. You once said you couldn’t, either.”
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Book 2, Chapter 2 Quotes
“Is it because they’re colored and we’re white? Is that why?”
Again, Richard and Eric looked at each other. Richard swallowed. “The world is full of all kinds of people, and sometimes they do terrible things to each other, but—that’s not why.”
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Book 3, Chapter 1 Quotes
He wished that he could rescue her, that it was within his power to rescue her and make her life less hard. But it was only love which could accomplish the miracle of making a life bearable—only love, and love itself mostly failed; and he had never loved her. He had used her to find out something about himself. And even this was not true. He had used her in the hope of avoiding a confrontation with himself which he had, nevertheless, and with a vengeance, been forced to endure.
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Leona Character Timeline in Another Country
The timeline below shows where the character Leona appears in Another Country. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Book 1, Chapter 1
...he is finished, Rufus walks away from the jazz bar and thinks about someone named Leona. Thinking of Leona also makes him think about a number of important memories in his...
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...did not recognize who seemed eager to talk to him. The woman introduced herself as Leona, and Rufus could tell by her accent that she was from the South. Immediately, Rufus...
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Rufus flirted with Leona in the cab. Leona blushed but flirted back. When they arrived at the party, Rufus...
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While walking into the party, Rufus asked Leona if her fellows Southerners had warned her about Black people from the North. Leona told...
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After Rufus and Leona had set their coats down, Rufus called Vivaldo to see if he planned to come...
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After spending some time at the party, Rufus invited Leona to join him on a balcony. Leona agreed to join as long as he refilled...
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Rufus and Leona made light conversation on the balcony as Leona admired the city. After some time, she...
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Leona moaned and protested as Rufus took off her clothes and played with her breasts. Rufus...
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Rufus did not know what to make of Leona’s response. He asked her what her husband would think if she came home pregnant with...
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Before returning to the party, Rufus asked Leona if she likes him. Leona said she does and asked Rufus not to hurt her....
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The following afternoon, Vivaldo showed up at Rufus’s apartment. Rufus was still in bed, so Leona opened the door to greet him. Seeing that Rufus and Leona had just gotten out...
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Rufus and Vivaldo moved into the kitchen to include Leona in their conversation. Vivaldo promised Leona that he and Rufus will help introduce her to...
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After she finished cooking, Leona went to the bedroom to get dressed. While she was away, Vivaldo asked Rufus if...
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After breakfast, Rufus, Vivaldo, and Leona went for a walk around the streets of New York. As they walked, Rufus realized...
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When Rufus, Vivaldo, and Leona arrived at a park, Rufus looked around and recognized many people from his past that...
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...Vivaldo present, Rufus could feel the eyes of everyone in the park on him and Leona, judging them. He saw that Leona did not seem to have noticed the shift and...
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Eventually, Vivaldo pulled away from the drunk girl and rejoined Leona and Rufus. Moments later, he spotted Cass, a white woman from New England whom he...
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Cass also asked Leona about herself and had a brief conversation with Rufus about coming to see one of...
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...Rufus responds that he did not feel like he could after what he did to Leona. Although Vivaldo does not approve of what Rufus did to Leona—exactly what he did is...
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...of scenery will help. Rufus asks Vivaldo if he blames him for what happened to Leona. Vivaldo refuses to answer the question directly—though it is clear he does blame Rufus—and instead...
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Rufus thinks about the past and how crazy his relationship with Leona became. He got into fights with Leona after she would insist that “‘ain’t nothing wrong...
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As Rufus thinks about what he did to Leona, he breaks down crying. Vivaldo holds Rufus and encourages him to let all of his...
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One night after Leona lost her job, Vivaldo visited Leona and Rufus’s apartment. When he arrived, he found Leona...
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Eventually Vivaldo got Leona out the door, but not before Rufus threatened to kill him if he returns. As...
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Vivaldo hailed a cab for Leona and sent her to his place. However, he did not go with her because he...
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Vivaldo told Rufus that his treatment of Leona was not right. Rufus knew Vivaldo was correct and tried to express why he felt...
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...memorable sexual experiences were with sex workers. Rufus told Vivaldo that his sex life with Leona was perfect. Vivaldo tried to get him to leave Leona alone; he believed it would...
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...the night Rufus held the knife up to him in the apartment. One cold night, Leona was found wandering the streets. Evidently, she had a psychological breakdown, as when the police...
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...coldness and blackness of the water, and as he does so, he internally apologizes to Leona and Eric for how he treated them. Then, he hurls himself off the bridge.
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Book 1, Chapter 2
...claims that things changed after Rufus got involved with “that damn crazy little cracker bitch” (Leona). In response, Richard can only shrug and sigh.
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...Black. Otherwise, they never would have stuck by his side after what he did to Leona.
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...did because he was in pain. Despite the way he behaved, Cass believes he loved Leona. When Richard scoffs at this idea, Cass reminds him that they have hurt each other...
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Book 2, Chapter 2
...to know a lot of specifics. However, she knew he was unhappy. She also mentions Leona and the abuse she suffered at Rufus’s hands. Hearing about Leona sparks memories within Eric...
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...people often wanted more from Rufus than he was able to give. She brings up Leona and once again insults her, calling her a “little whore of a nymphomaniac” and a...
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Book 2, Chapter 4
...toward Rufus. Vivaldo shares a memory with Eric from the night he had to remove Leona from Rufus’s apartment. Later that night, after Vivaldo had calmed Rufus down, Rufus was lying...
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