Previous
Act 2
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Blues for Mister Charlie, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Racism and Individuality
Masculinity
Christianity and Oppression
Sexuality and Love
Money and Opportunity
Summary
Analysis
Two months later inside a sparkling white courtroom are crowded together various members of the press, a jury, and Black and white townspeople. A church steeple with a cross is visible from the courthouse. A clerk calls Jo to the stand. In a flashback, Jo serves coffee at a church social while trying to ward off errant lustful thoughts about Reverend Phelps and a man named Mr. Arpino; Jo briefly wonders if Mr. Arpino is mixed-race. She also worries that she is becoming an unmarriageable spinster. Then Lyle approaches her for coffee. In another flashback, Reverend Phelps marries Jo and Lyle. Jo is thrilled that Lyle wanted her—but she also begs him to love her and look at her.
The visibility of a Christian church from the courtroom suggests that religion will be at play, for better or worse, during Richard’s trial. Meanwhile, Jo’s lustful thoughts about Mr. Arpino, combined with her curiosity about his racial background, suggest that she—like Lyle and Parnell—experiences interracial sexual attraction, but she represses this attraction because she wants to live up to the white-supremacist ideal of a “pure” white woman. Finally, her longing for Lyle to love her and look at her hints that she knows Lyle married her precisely because he wanted a “pure white woman” rather than because he loved her.
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A lawyer known as “The State” asks Jo her relationship to Lyle. She says she’s his wife. Then the State asks her to narrate the first time she encountered Richard. Jo claims that when Richard came into the store, he said “dirty” things to her as if she were a Black woman he wanted to have sex with. Jo wondered whether he was high. She tried to give him the two Cokes he asked for, but then he grabbed her and tried to kiss her. She screamed for Lyle, who came running from the back room. Then Richard’s friend came running into the store, and he and Richard jumped on Lyle. When the State asks why Jo didn’t report any of this to the police, she claims she was trying to avoid causing trouble in town. The State asks where Jo and Lyle were the early morning of August 24th when Richard was killed. Jo says they were at home.
Jo lies under oath that Richard sexually assaulted her—in fact he never touched her, though he did make a disparaging sexual comment about her. Clearly, Jo is attempting to prejudice the jury against Richard to secure an acquittal for Lyle by activating racist stereotypes about sexually predatory Black men. Her testimony foreshadows that, even though Lyle is the one on trial for murder, Lyle’s defense will essentially put Richard’s character on trial—an illustration of racism in the legal system.
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A lawyer called “The Counsel for the Bereaved” asks Jo whether it wouldn’t be strange for Richard to sexually assault her in the middle of the day, in a public store, with her husband Lyle in the back room. Jo claims Richard didn’t know Lyle was there. When the Counsel for the Bereaved points out that Lyle was hammering loudly, Jo suggests that Richard was “crazy” and on drugs. The Counsel asks whether Jo has ever heard of “a junkie trying to rape anybody,” Jo cries out that she didn’t say “rape.”
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Through additional questioning of Jo, the Counsel for the Bereaved establishes that—according to Jo—Lyle never saw Richard with his hands on Jo, and Jo told Lyle about the alleged assault but asked him not to retaliate. Then the Counsel establishes that Richard died between two and five a.m. on Monday, August 24th. The Counsel notes that while in an earlier statement, Jo said Lyle was at the store that night, she is now claiming he was with her at home. Jo claims she got “mixed up” because Lyle spent so much time at the store. The judge dismisses Jo.
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Joel Davis, who’s known to most as Papa D, is called to the witness stand. In a flashback, Lyle demands to know why Joel told Old Bill about Willa Mae—especially since Willa Mae isn’t the first girl that Joel has brought to Lyle’s place. When Papa D says he didn’t believe Lyle would kill Old Bill, Lyle—using a racial slur—says he’ll kill any Black person who talks to him the way Old Bill did. Then he insists the killing was self-defense and threatens to kill Papa D if he doesn’t “say the right thing.”
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On the stand, Papa D calls Lyle an “oppressor” who, unlike many white people, refuses to change his opinion on Black people despite social progress. While white spectators in the courtroom insist that Lyle always treated Papa D well, Black spectators call out that Papa D “loved” Lyle. Papa D admits he did love Lyle “in [his] way.” When Black spectators demand to know why Papa D didn’t stop Lyle from killing Richard, Papa D admits that both he and Lyle loved money. Papa D, having already covered up one of Lyle’s murders, was “in too deep” with him. When the Black spectators ask whether Lyle killed Richard, Papa D says that Lyle entered his juke joint the night Richard died.
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Papa D’s monologue transitions into a flashback. Papa D is telling Richard to leave town if he feels like his life is going well and he’s found someone who loves him. Richard tells Papa D that he wants to get Juanita out of town and asks Papa D whether Juanita will laugh. When Papa D assures Richard she won’t, Richard says that now is the first time in his life that he's felt there is more to existence than “pain and darkness.” Then Lyle enters the juke joint and asks whether Richard is “ready.” Richard insists on playing one more song and finishing his drink.
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Richard finishes his drink and asks how much he owes Papa D. When Papa D suggests that Richard pay him tomorrow, Richard says he may not be able to. Papa D charges him two dollars. Richard pays and leaves. Papa D says goodbye to Richard and to Lyle. Then, as the flashback ends, Papa D testifies that he never saw Richard again—and that Lyle killed him just like he killed Old Bill.
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Lorenzo is called to the witness stand. In a flashback, Lorenzo is in a jail cell with Pete, who wakes up screaming from a nightmare. Pete tells Lorenzo about the nightmare, which involves a man named “Big Jim Byrd” and his “boys” violently beating a woman named Anna Mae Taylor, kicking a pregnant woman, and using a cattle-prod on Pete himself. Lorenzo hushes Pete, telling him that unless he quiets down, “they” will come beat Pete and Lorenzo again. Pete asks whether Juanita was arrested. Lorenzo reassuringly tells him that he thinks not and promises to hold Pete while he sleeps.
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In the present, Lorenzo takes the stand. The State asks whether Lorenzo went with Richard to Lyle’s store on August 17th. Lorenzo says that events didn’t occur the way Jo said—Richard never touched Jo. The white spectators, using racial slurs, demand to know who Lorenzo thinks he is, while the Black spectators urge Lorenzo on. The State claims that the argument couldn’t have been over the cost of Coke and asks whether Lorenzo and Richard had been drinking or smoking “dope”—and whether Richard decided to act out what his pornographic photos of white women suggested. Lorenzo retorts that he never saw any such photos, he and Richard had not been drinking, all that they’d smoked was tobacco—and Richard never tried to rape anyone.
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The State asks the judge to remind Lorenzo that he’s under oath. Lorenzo says that he knows he’s under oath—and that the reason for the fight was simply that Richard hated white people. Then the Counsel for the Bereaved begins questioning Lorenzo, asking whether Richard was still addicted to drugs. Lorenzo says no. The Counsel asks whether Richard was carrying pornographic photos of himself and naked white women. Lorenzo says no—people keep asking him about photos and a gun, but Lorenzo never saw either. The judge dismisses Lorenzo.
Juanita is called to the stand. In a flashback, Juanita monologues about how sex with Richard felt like “life and death.” She wishes that she could have given birth to Richard so that he could be reborn. Commenting that her mother was afraid that Juanita had brought a lover home, she speculates that her mother feels about God how Juanita felt about Richard—but Juanita wants a human lover. She hopes that she’s pregnant so that she can “raise [her] baby to be a man.” Then she thinks that there are no more men, not for her, and wonders whether similar tragedies blighted the life of her mother and Mother Henry. She thinks she’ll end up caring for another man someday, whether that man is Pete, Meridian, or Parnell—and she comments that Parnell’s life must be terrible: all bodies are “bloody” to him.
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When Juanita takes the stand, one of her arms is in a sling. The Black spectators call out that everyone should have seen her when she was initially released from jail—and demands to know why Black people are always called up to be loving to white people. Meanwhile, the white spectators call Juanita a “slut” and suggest that “somebody had to twist” her arm. The State asks how old Juanita was when Richard’s mother died. Juanita was 16. The State asks whether she and Richard were talking about marriage then. When Juanita says that they obviously weren’t, the State asks whether they only talked about marriage shortly before Richard’s death. Juanita agrees.
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The State asks whether Juanita had other boyfriends between Richard’s departure and his return—and whether her loneliness and Meridian’s caused her and Meridian to draw closer together. Without waiting for an answer, the State then asks where she has spent the past few weeks. When Juanita says she was in jail and begins to explain why she was arrested, the State cuts her off and asks how long, in total, she has ever spent in jail. When she says it’s been a substantial time, the State makes a sarcastic comment about how she’s preparing for her future. Then the State mentions that she considered marrying another student, Pete Spivey, and suggests Juanita can’t say anything about Richard she couldn’t also say about Pete, Meridian, and “many” other men. Juanita replies, “I am not responsible for your imagination.”
The State asks Juanita about the fight between Lyle and Richard at Lyle’s store. When Juanita says she wasn’t there, the State asks whether Richard was sober before and after the fight. Juanita says that he was. She heard about the fight in the evening and went running to Meridian’s house to see Richard. In a flashback, Meridian greets Juanita, tells her Richard is sleeping, and asks whether she’ll go with Richard when Meridian sends him away due to the danger Lyle poses.
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When Juanita replies, “oh, my God,” Meridian says he wants to ask her a question just one time: was he imagining their connection before Richard arrived? Juanita says he wasn’t imagining it—he was lonely and hoping, as was she. When she cries out that she never wanted to wound Meridian, he says that he knows—he just wanted to check that he wasn’t going crazy. He admits that he has culpably allowed himself to become terribly lonely because he can’t forget the sight of his wife’s dead body covered in rain. He let his chance with Juanita slip past because of it—it wasn’t her fault or Richard’s. He repressed his feelings so as not to kill someone—and he wants to have control of himself now and wish Juanita the best.
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Juanita asks Meridian whether they’ll always suffer. Meridian says he doesn’t know, but they have to keep going. They enter the house. Back in the present, Juanita testifies that she tried to make plans to leave town with Richard, but Richard said he wanted to remain and live as a man rather than keep fleeing white people. Eventually Juanita convinced him to take her away from town, but before they could go, Lyle killed him—just like white men have been killing Black men for centuries. The judge dismisses Juanita and adjourns court for the day.
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On the next day of the trial, Mother Henry is called to the stand. When the State, calling her “Mrs. Henry,” says that she and her husband never caused any problems with white people, Mother Henry points out that no white person ever referred to her as “Mrs. Henry” either, not until Richard was murdered. The State claims that he and every white person in town feels Mrs. Henry’s pain—but then asks whether Richard came to town with a gun. Mother Henry says she never saw a gun—and repeats it even when the State reminds her she’s under oath.
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The State asks Mother Henry whether she ever saw Richard acting like he was on drugs. She says no, except for the time she saw him etherized for tonsil surgery when he was six. She recalls how, the day Richard was born, Meridian prayed “to raise him to be a good strong man.” The judge dismisses her.
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Meridian is called to the stand. In a flashback, Meridian is teaching the Song of Songs to a Sunday school class. To the class he interprets the Song of Songs as about Christ’s love for the church—but in an aside, he wishes it were about an individual man’s love for a woman. In the present, the State asks whether Meridian is a reverend and Richard’s father, who raised his son a Christian. Meridian says that he tried, but Richard often wondered why some Christians treated Black people so badly, and Meridian had no good answer for him.
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The State says that Meridian, as a minister, certainly wouldn’t have encouraged his son to carry a gun. Meridian says he and Richard never really discussed that—he never saw Richard carry a gun, and the topic only came up when Richard said he “could live without” a gun. The Black spectators sarcastically suggest that Richard couldn’t “say how” he could live without a gun, while the white spectators yell that Meridian is lying.
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The State insinuates that Richard strayed from Christianity because Meridian, in preaching “social equality,” served as a bad Christian example. Meridian replies that he’s not interested in seeing Black people become “equal” to their murderers—but only “equal to themselves,” living up to their own human potential. The State angrily blames Meridian for Richard’s “tragic” death, but Meridian denies that the State sees Richard’s death as “tragic.”
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The State asks Meridian about his relationship to Juanita and whether he’s had sex since his wife died. When Meridian asks whether that’s the State’s business, the State asks the judge to make Meridian answer the question. Meridian, outraged, says that he’s a man who was trying to help his son become a man—but the “pursuit” of manhood killed Richard due to overwhelming white racism in every sphere, including law and religion. The Black spectators call out, “Amen!,” while the white spectators yell that Meridian is fomenting race hatred. Meridian declares himself responsible for Richard’s death but also says he hoped to change the world so that it would be different by the time Richard grew into manhood.
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The State asks Meridian about Richard’s obscene photos of himself and white women. Meridian says Richard never told him about any such photos. When the State asks whether Meridian and Richard ever talked about women, Meridian says they certainly talked about individual women such as Richard’s mother and Juanita—but not about pornography. The State accuses Meridian of lying on the stand to protect a “pimp, dope addict, and rapist.” Meridian says that he doesn’t care about the State’s judgment, he knows why Richard became a drug addict, and Richard was never a pimp or a rapist—and Jo frankly wasn’t his son’s type. When the State sarcastically asks whether Meridian is a minister, Meridian replies, “I think I may be beginning to become one.” The judge dismisses him.
Parnell is called to the stand. In a flashback, Parnell is standing in his bathrobe monologuing about how his girlfriend told him he said the wrong name during sex—but wouldn’t tell him whose name. He sarcastically hopes it was “a white girl’s name.” Then he admits that he’s been using his girlfriend to avoid his “black fever,” his attraction to Black women and men—based in his desire to be freed from his white body, not in real love.
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In another flashback, Parnell is going hunting with Lyle on Parnell’s property. Lyle is asking Parnell whether it would be a good idea to propose to Jo. Parnell says that Lyle will have to live with Jo his whole life if she says yes—and he thinks she will say yes. When Lyle asks why she would, Parnell says that Lyle has a capacity for attracting people. Lyle expresses doubt about that and then says that he and his father used to poach from Parnell’s property—the “overseers” would shoot at them, but they always got away. When Parnell asks whether Lyle wants to marry Jo, Lyle says he must marry and have children at some point, and Jo is “clean.”
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Parnell shoots at some animal and misses. Lyle shoots and kills a bird. When Parnell congratulates him, Lyle says his father taught him well: “It was sport for you. It was life for us.” Parnell jokingly says that Lyle just killed someone’s child. Changing the subject, Lyle says that he wants “peace,” and that Jo is the only “white virgin” remaining in town. Parnell asks whether Lyle is worried that Jo will be turned off by the gossip about Old Bill, but Lyle says he isn’t—such incidents are too commonplace. He says that he’ll make Parnell his baby’s godfather and that its middle name will be “Parnell.”
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In the present, Parnell takes the stand. The white spectators, using racial slurs, accuse Parnell of loving Black people and betraying white people, while the Black spectators say they distrust him because he’s white. The State asks Parnell about Richard and Lyle. Parnell says he’s friends with Richard’s father Meridian—and with Lyle. When the State asks whether the two friendships were equally strong, Parnell says they were “different.” When the State asks him what “different” things Parnell did with his friends, Parnell mentions that he hunts with Lyle. The State suggests that Parnell hunted with Lyle but not Meridian because he trusted Lyle but not Meridian. Parnell objects, saying he served in the army alongside Black soldiers with guns. The State points out that soldiers have “a common enemy.”
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The State asks Parnell what he thought of Richard. Parnell says that Richard was a worthy person even if he was “tactless.” When the state asks how Richard affected the town, Parnell says that he disturbed the town with his negative reaction to its racial politics. The State asks whether Richard told Black people to carry guns or showed around photos of naked white women. Parnell says he never heard of Richard telling people to carry guns and that the photos weren’t pornographic—they were normal photos. When the State asks whether the photos were of white women, Parnell says they were.
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When the State mentions that Parnell is the first witness to say the photos existed, Parnell says he discouraged Richard from showing them to anyone due to the “danger”—and that Richard wouldn’t have showed the photos to Meridian as the women in them were “beneath him.” The State pontificates that any white woman who has sex with a Black man is “beneath all human consideration” and has committed an act of religious desecration.
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The State asks whether Richard’s attempt to rape Jo damaged Parnell’s friendship with Meridian. Parnell says he never heard anything about a rape attempt until today. The State asks how it’s possible that Parnell didn’t hear about it given his close friendship with Lyle and Jo. Parnell says he doesn’t know. Both white and Black spectators yell at Parnell to tell the truth. Parnell says Lyle only told him about a fight at the store.
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When the State asks how Lyle could have failed to mention an attempted rape, Parnell hems and haws and says he thought Jo had misunderstood Richard. The State asks how she could misunderstand a forced kiss. Parnell acknowledges that that seems “quite explicit.” The judge dismisses Parnell. The Black spectators say ironically that Parnell screwed them in a “gentle” fashion and comment that not even a white man is allowed to call a white woman a liar, while the white spectators crow that Jo told the truth “after all.”
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Lyle is called to the stand. In a flashback, Lyle monologues about what his son or daughter might be like as an adult and praises Jo’s goodness. He promises himself that he’ll work hard to support them, prays to God to help him, and asks his son to arrive soon so he can “hug” him. Then, in another flashback, Lyle is reminiscing to Papa D about how sexy Willa Mae was and how she told him he was better at sex than any Black man—before saying he needs to get home because he’s “a family man now.”
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In the present, Lyle walks up to the stand. The judge asks the jury whether they’ve reached a verdict. The jury declares Lyle not guilty. The white spectators cheer, while the Black spectators say nothing. Soon the courtroom is mostly empty. Lyle thanks Parnell for “com[ing] through,” and Meridian asks Parnell to ask Lyle for the truth. When Lyle snaps at Meridian that the trial was clearly a mistake, Meridian asks whether Lyle killed Richard. Lyle says the white jury’s verdict ought to be “good enough” for Meridian.
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Parnell says it’s not “good enough.” Lyle criticizes him for seeming not to trust Jo’s story on the stand and says that Parnell isn’t “better” than he is. Parnell says that he’s finally realized he isn’t any better and that he has “failed” Lyle. Then, he declares that he knew Jo was lying because Lyle pressured her to—and that not only did Lyle wrong Jo, but Parnell also wronged Lyle by pretending to entertain the lie. Parnell isn’t sure whether he betrayed Lyle or Meridian more, in fact. Lyle asks whether Parnell has forgotten he’s white—something Lyle’s father taught Lyle never to do—and tells him, using a racial slur, to go to the Black side of town.
Meridian demands to know whether Richard pleaded for his life before Lyle shot him. Lyle exclaims that Richard was too clever and too proud. He insists that he gave Richard “every chance to live.” In a flashback, Lyle and Richard stand in the dark outside Papa D’s. Lyle demands that Richard apologize for what he did in the store. Richard refuses and asks whether they need to do this—what is he or Lyle trying to prove? When Lyle says he’s giving Richard a chance, Richard says Lyle won’t give him the chance he wants—to let them both just go home.
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When Richard exclaims he has “things to do,” Lyle says he does too and admits he wants to go home. Richard asks why they’re still here. When Lyle says they must settle things, Richard replies, “It’s settled. You a man and I’m a man.” Lyle demands that Richard call him “sir” and apologize. When Richard refuses, Lyle asks whether Richard wants to live. Richard says yes but tells Lyle to go home.
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When Lyle pulls out a gun, Richard asks why Lyle won’t stop harassing him, saying that he wants nothing from white people, who lack good food, talk, and dancing. Lyle shoots him. Richard demands to know why white people are trying to castrate him. Lyle shoots him a second time. Richard warns Lyle to keep Jo—and himself—away from Black people lest they “get to like it.” Then he calls out for Juanita, Meridian, and his mother.
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In the present, Lyle yells that he had to murder Richard because no one can talk to him, a white man, that way—and that he feels no regret. Jo hurries him away. Mother Henry tells those remaining in the church that they need “to march” now. When Lorenzo makes a sarcastic comment about prayer, Meridian suggests that things began and may end for Black people with “the Bible and the gun.” Juanita asks what Meridian did with the gun. When Parnell asks whether they have Richard’s gun, Meridian says yes—it’s under the Bible in the pulpit of his church. Pete asks Juanita whether she’s ready to go. Everyone exits except Juanita and Parnell. Parnell asks her whether he can walk with her in the march. Juanita says they can at least “walk in the same direction”—but then she encourages him to come with her. She leaves, and he follows.
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