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Jesse’s mother
Grace is a white Southern woman married to Jesse. Jesse is unable to stay erect while having sex with her and wishes he could ask her to do what he would ask a “nigger girl” to do, but he can’t because she’s his wife. Grace tells him to go to sleep and falls asleep herself. After reflecting on memories of racial violence, Jesse wakes her up to have aggressive sex with her and Grace moans, but it is unclear if she wants to be having sex or is another victim of his sexual compulsions.
Grace Quotes in Going to Meet the Man
The Going to Meet the Man quotes below are all either spoken by Grace or refer to Grace. 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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Going to Meet the Man Quotes
This was his wife. He could not ask her to do just a little thing for him, just to help him out, just for a little while, the way he could ask a nigger girl to do it. He lay there, and he sighed. The image of a black girl caused a distant excitement in him, like a far-away light[.]
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Explanation and Analysis:
This passage comes at the beginning of the story, when Jesse and Grace are in bed together and Jesse is unable to become erect during sex. It establishes both that Jesse is unfaithful to his wife, and also that it is easy for him to sexualize Black people. He sees white women like Grace as somehow set apart from Black women whom he sleeps with; she is “his wife” and they are “nigger girls.” Despite this overt racism, he also clearly longs for Black women. This is Baldwin’s way of complicating how racism is often seen as pure rejection of 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 consectetu
He thought of the boy in the cell; he thought of the man in the fire; he thought of the knife and grabbed himself and stroked himself and a terrible sound, something between a high laugh and a howl, came out of him and dragged his sleeping wife up on one elbow. She stared at him in a moonlight which had now grown cold as ice. He thought of the morning and grabbed her, laughing and crying, crying and laughing, and he whispered, as he stroked her, as he took her, “Come on, sugar, I’m going to do you like a nigger, just like a nigger, come on, sugar, and love me just like you’d love a nigger.”
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This passage takes place at the very end of the story when Jesse is back in the present, lying in bed next to Grace. That Jesse is finally able to become erect after recalling episodes of violence against Black men shows how sexuality and racial violence are paired for him. By telling Grace “I’m going to do you like a nigger,” Jesse finally lets the truth come out—his sexuality is centered on channeling the sexual power he perceives Black men to have. Jesse’s arousal while thinking about violence perpetrated against Black men makes total sense here at the end of 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. Volu
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Grace Character Timeline in Going to Meet the Man
The timeline below shows where the character Grace appears in Going to Meet the Man. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Going to Meet the Man
Grace asks Jesse what’s wrong and he says he isn’t sure, that he might be tired....
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Grace tells Jesse to go to sleep since he has a hard day tomorrow and he...
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Turning toward Grace, Jesse thinks that he would like to be buried inside her and not have to...
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...all over with that peculiar excitement.” He then explains (more to himself now than to Grace) how he yelled at the man to stop not just the singing, but to stop...
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...becomes aroused and starts to touch himself, letting out a howling sound as he drags Grace awake. She stares at him and, laughing and crying, he starts having sex with her,...
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