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Jo Britten
Pete Spivey is a Black college student who collaborates with Meridian Henry, Juanita Harmon, Lorenzo Shannon, and others to protest for African American civil rights. He has both witnessed and suffered terrible white violence against Black protestors; as a result, he sometimes cries or has nightmares after protests. He was jailed with Lorenzo in the aftermath of one protest. He is in love with Juanita, wants to marry her, and promises to be faithful to her even when she tells him, after Richard Henry’s murder, that Richard is the first man she ever truly loved.
Pete Spivey Quotes in Blues for Mister Charlie
The Blues for Mister Charlie quotes below are all either spoken by Pete Spivey or refer to Pete Spivey. 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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Act 1 Quotes
Richard: Every one of them’s got some piss-assed, faggoty white boy on a string somewhere. They go home and marry him, dig, when they can’t make it with me no more—but when they want some loving, funky, down-home, bring-it-on-here-and-put-it-on-the-table style—
Juanita: They sound very sad. It must be very sad for you, too.
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Richard, recently returned home to the South from New York City, has gone out with college students and racial-justice protestors Juanita and Pete for drinks and dancing. Richard is bragging about taking money from his white girlfriends who want him for his superior “loving,” i.e. sexual prowess. This quotation shows how Richard has reacted to feelings of being “emasculated” in a white-supremacist society with internalized racism and unproductive attempts at revenge. The audience already knows that Richard believes his mother was murdered by a white man whose sexual advances she refused; he feels that he and his father have been Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas. Totam quae co
Act 3 Quotes
Juanita: I am not responsible for your imagination.
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Lyle Britten’s defense attorney, called The State, has been questioning Juanita about whether she had romantic relationships with Richard Henry, Meridian Henry, or Pete Spivey—and concludes by insinuating that Juanita is an unreliable witness because she is sexually promiscuous. Juanita simply replies, “I am not responsible for your imagination.” This reply is an important thematic statement for the play. Throughout the play, white characters have projected their own sexual anxieties and fantasies onto Black characters in a racist manner. For example, they have claimed that Black men are sexually predatory and that Black women are sexually promiscuous and generally “available.” Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debiti
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Pete Spivey Character Timeline in Blues for Mister Charlie
The timeline below shows where the character Pete Spivey appears in Blues for Mister Charlie. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Act 1
Meridian’s mother, Mother Henry, enters. More Black students—including Juanita, Lorenzo, and Pete—enter carrying signs and looking like they’ve been attacked. Pete is crying. Lorenzo claims not to...
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Meridian asks whether the police arrested any protestors. Pete says the police are too busy trying to explain away Richard’s corpse. When Meridian declares...
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...and encounters Richard. At first they don’t recognize each other; then they hug with exclamations. Pete walks in, and Juanita introduces him as a college student. They invite Richard to come...
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Richard, Juanita, and Pete go to Papa D’s Juke Joint. Juanita reintroduces Richard to Papa D, who asks how...
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...any Black man who touches a white woman will be castrated. Then he starts showing Pete photographs of white girls he’s dated in New York, bragging about how desperate they are....
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Pete excuses himself for a moment. When Richard asks Juanita to dance, she declines and asks...
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...retorts, “Consider yourself pardoned.” Lyle asks whether Richard is new to town and leaves. Afterward, Pete asks whether Richard has a death wish. Richard dismisses him and continues dancing with Juanita.
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Back in the main timeline of the play, in the church, Pete asks Juanita why she’s been avoiding him. He says that she started withdrawing as soon...
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Act 3
...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...
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...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”...
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...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,...
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...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...
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