Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Like a Winding Sheet, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Racial Inequality
Racism, Alienation, and Abuse
Gender and Race
Summary
Analysis
Johnson awakes from an uneasy night’s sleep. He is disappointed that he has slept so late, as it means he has missed the chance to make his wife, Mae, breakfast. He feels an ache in his legs from the previous night’s work, while Mae is already up and appears upbeat.
Johnson’s thoughts as he awakens succinctly introduce two key points of his character: his sincere love for his wife, and a sense of unease with the outside world, represented by the ache in his legs produced by his job at the factory.
Themes
Mae speaks affectionately to Johnson, giggling about how he’s twisted up in their bedsheet and looks like a “huckleberry” in a “winding sheet.” Johnson reflects that his dark skin does look “inky black” against the white sheet. Johnson enjoys the sounds of Mae’s giggles, until she reminds him that he can’t be late to work again. He complains that he can’t get used to sleeping in the daytime, and that his legs hurt all the time from standing through his shift.
The image of Johnson wrapped up in their bedsheet “like a winding sheet” (i.e., a shroud) creates an ominous atmosphere which lingers to the end of the story, as it transforms the bedsheet, which at first seems like a symbol of their marital love, into a symbol of death. This moment, though light-hearted, hints at the dark turn that the story will take.
Themes
As they are about to leave the house Mae remembers that today is Friday the thirteenth. Feeling the date to be inauspicious, Mae decides she wants to stay home rather than going to work. Johnson eventually persuades her to go, but he makes a point of not threatening her or speaking harshly to her, as “a lot of men” might have done in his position.
Petry creates some subtle irony here, as for Mae the date does indeed turn out to be unlucky, but ironically the violence against her ultimately takes place at home, the very place she thinks she will be most safe. It is also worth noting here how much Johnson defines himself by his ability to refrain from cruelty towards women, an ability which, it later turns out, doesn’t hold up against his experience of racism.
Themes
Johnson arrives at work, already exhausted, and late due to the time he spent convincing Mae to go to work. He imagines how if he were in charge, he would improve things to make the work less tiring. He catches the attention of the white forewoman, whom he notes looks especially bad tempered today, and muses about how he can’t quite get used to the idea of a white woman as a boss.
Here it is clear, that given the chance, Johnson could be a highly productive member of society, someone who innovates rather than simply staying in a dead-end job, which highlights how tragic it is that he is instead belittled and oppressed. Petry also introduces some more nuance to Johnson’s character in this passage, suggesting that although he is a victim of racism, he still harbors some blatantly sexist views.
Themes
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When Johnson walks by the forewoman, she grumbles about how everyone in the plant seems to arrive late, especially Johnson. He tells her how much his legs hurt and that he has trouble sleeping during the day, but she doesn’t listen. She starts using racial slurs, pinning the greatest portion of the blame on black employees.
The forewoman’s speech is overtly uncaring and racist. Her use of racial slurs serves to lump all the black employees together, denying their individuality and instead unfairly painting them as lazy or inattentive workers.
Themes
Johnson experiences a flash of anger and fantasizes about beating the forewoman. Instead he approaches her in an intimidating way so that she is forced to back away, and he insists that she is free to insult him but must never again use racial slurs. She appears to be frightened and apologizes hastily. Johnson notices that he is beginning to feel disconnected from his hands, which feel primed to strike her. His mind lingers on how pleasurable he imagines it would be to hit her, and thinks that his hands would probably feel much better if he had done it. In particular he imagines how satisfying his hands would feel against her “soft flesh.”
The forewoman’s speech attacking Johnson is of course offensive racially, but the fact that she is a woman speaking to him this way makes him feel emasculated as well. He reminds her of his physical strength by stepping towards her and fantasizes about how good it would feel to physically attack her distinctly female “soft flesh.” He is tempted to hit her, but this clashes with his distaste for violence against women, which he expressed earlier when he refused to even speak harshly to Mae. This inner conflict between Johnson’s sexist rage, his racial oppression, and his desire to do the right thing builds up in his hands, which symbolize his thwarted desire to take control of this unbearable situation.
Themes
As the night draws to a close, the other workers appear uneasy and the incessant noise of the machines builds. Johnson collects his pay slip and leaves. Outside he notices what a pleasant night it is and reminisces about how enjoyable he finds Mae’s company. He thinks about how they often stay up until dawn instead of going to bed, laughing together, preparing food, listening to the radio or just dozing.
Here, Petry creates a marked contrast between the tension-filled factory, where the moods of the other workers and the maddening mechanical sounds of the machines induce hostility and anxiety, and the warmth and freedom of Johnson’s home life, where he and Mae exist harmoniously away from the world’s racism.
Themes
In order to avoid a busy subway ride Johnson chooses to enter an inviting restaurant he’s noticed, where he sees his coworkers purchasing coffee. The thought of the long train ride back to Harlem is an exhausting prospect to him, as he watches his coworkers sip coffee and notices how it seems to revive them. He decides to wait in line for coffee as well.
Petry highlights how Johnson’s entire existence feels exhausting, not just his work hours. This makes the prospect of the revitalizing coffee especially appealing, and shows just how badly Johnson needs relief from his grueling day-to-day life.
Themes
When Johnson reaches the counter, the girl serving the coffee casually tells him that there is no more coffee, flicking back her long blonde hair. Johnson feels certain that she is lying, and that she’s refusing to serve him because he is black. He expects that his coworkers might protest, but they only shuffle awkwardly and say nothing.
The girl’s flicking of her long blonde hair, a symbol which unites whiteness and femininity, to dismiss Johnson once again makes him feel emasculated by the influence afforded to white women, and his coworkers’ failure to respond makes him feel they are also complicit in this process of emasculation.
Themes
Johnson experiences an intense desire to strike her, and again he notices how tension builds in his hands. He relishes the thought of beating her and in doing so smearing her lipstick across her face, violently enough that she would never deny a black man a cup of coffee again. He leans towards her, preparing to strike her forcefully. But he instead lets his hands drop with intense effort, as he again feels unable to hit a woman, no matter who she is or how badly she treats him.
The fetishized image of lipstick being smeared like blood echoes Johnson’s earlier fantasies of striking the forewoman's “soft flesh,” as he again relishes notably gendered thoughts of violence. But he still feels unable to violate his principles, once again producing a crisis of agency, as represented by his hands.
Themes
Johnson leaves without looking back, thinking about how the waitress seemed contemptuous of him as she tossed her hair. If he had looked back, however, he would have seen the waitress turning away the other people waiting in line for coffee and tossing her hair again as she started to make a fresh batch.
Here Petry suggests that Johnson’s experience of racism, while genuine, warps his perception of reality. He feels himself to be so greatly alienated that even when someone behaves innocuously towards him, he’s capable of misinterpreting their action as a racist one. Johnson’s belief here, though inaccurate, is thus understandable; he experiences racism so often (at work, for example) that it’s only natural he would see it even when it’s not there.
Themes
While he is on the subway, Johnson’s bodily discomfort increases as his pent-up frustration mounts. He feels tension expanding through his whole body and building up painfully as he struggles to contain it.
Throughout the story Johnson’s physical discomfort reflects his social discomfort, and on the crowded train it nears a breaking point. It’s still clear that Johnson wants to control himself, but it’s also becoming increasingly likely that he may not be able to do so.
Themes
Johnson arrives home and finds Mae. She is cheerful but quickly irritates him by cracking her gum, and she unwittingly adds to his pent-up frustration by flicking her hair in the same way the waitress did. Johnson tries not to start a fight, however, as he feels genuine affection for her. Exhausted, he sits down on her overalls for the next day. She complains he will wrinkle them and insists he move, but he refuses.
The lengths Johnson is prepared to go to in order to avoid arguing with Mae demonstrate his sincere love for her. But the sight of her flicking her hair the way the waitress did again highlights how prone Johnson is to connect innocuous actions with racially charged ones, and this moment also reminds the reader of how Johnson’s frequent experiences of racism wear on him.
Themes
Mae tries to coax Johnson out of his bad mood, but her playful repetition of the same racial slur the forewoman used unleashes his fury. Instead of taking pleasure in her laughter as he has done in the past, Johnson doesn’t even really hear her as his hands begin to tingle. He strikes her and notes the feeling of her “soft flesh” and how her red lipstick is smeared across her face. He feels as though he has lost all control over his body, powerlessly watching as he hits her over and over again. He feels totally suffocated and bound up by something greater than himself, as if wound up in “a winding sheet.” The thought appears to only spur him on to more and more violence.
Mae’s sincere love for Johnson is demonstrated by how much she wants to improve his mood; it’s clear that in just about every way, this is a loving couple. But her use of the same racial slur triggers his anger, suggesting that racism can turn even caring, private relationships between people of color into traumatic experiences. Johnson here reaches the peak of his crisis of agency, as he feels totally divorced from the actions he is committing; it seems that racism has alienated him so deeply from himself that his actions don’t feel at all meaningful anymore. At the same time, Petry’s repetition of “soft flesh” and the image of smeared lipstick drive home the idea that Mae is an innocent stand-in for the forewoman and the waitress. Johnson’s sexist perspective essentially causes him to lump Mae together with the women who have offended him, even though he loves her. This prejudiced inability to see members of a marginalized group (in this case, women) as distinct individuals mirrors the way that the racist forewoman lumped together all the black workers at Johnson’s factory, showing how different kinds of discrimination can play off each other to disastrous effect.
Themes
