Geraldine did not allow her baby, Junior, to cry. As long as his needs were physical, she could meet them—comfort and satiety. He was always brushed, bathed, oiled, and shod. Geraldine did not talk to him, coo to him, or indulge him in kissing bouts, but she saw that every other desire was fulfilled. It was not long before the child discovered the difference in his mother's behavior to himself and the cat. As he grew older, he learned how to direct his hatred of his mother to the cat, and spent some happy moments watching it suffer. The cat survived, because Geraldine was seldom away from home, and could effectively soothe the animal when Junior abused him.
杰萝丹不许她的孩子裘尼尔哭闹。只要他的需求是物质性的——舒适与温饱，她总能满足。她总是不停地给他梳洗打扮。杰萝丹不和孩子谈笑逗乐，也不亲吻溺爱，可是孩子其他方面的要求她都予以满足。没过多久孩子就觉察出他母亲对他和对猫的态度不一样。他长大一些后就学会如何把对母亲的仇恨转嫁给那只猫，并从小猫的痛苦之中着实获得过一些快乐。猫咪之所以仍活着是因为杰萝丹难得出门，当猫受到裘尼尔的虐待之后能有效地安抚它。
Geraldine, Louis, Junior, and the cat lived next to the playground of Washington Irving School. Junior considered the playground his own, and the schoolchildren coveted his freedom to sleep late, go home for lunch, and dominate the playground after school. He hated to see the swings, slides, monkey bars, and seesaws empty and tried to get kids to stick around as long as possible. White kids; his mother did not like him to play with niggers. She had explained to him the difference between colored people and niggers. They were easily identifiable. Colored people were neat and quiet; niggers were dirty and loud. He belonged to the former group—he wore white shirts and blue trousers; his hair was cut as close to his scalp as possible to avoid any suggestion of wool, the part was etched into his hair by the barber. In winter his mother put Jergens Lotion on his face to keep the skin from becoming ashen. Even though he was light-skinned, it was possible to ash. The line between colored and nigger was not always clear; subtle and telltale signs threatened to erode it, and the watch had to be constant.
杰萝丹、路易斯·裘尼尔以及猫咪住在华盛顿·欧文学校操场边的一幢房子里。裘尼尔认为整个操场归他所有。学校所有的孩子都羡慕他能晚睡晚起，能中午回家吃饭，放学之后能霸占整个操场。而他则看不得操场上无人荡秋千，滑滑梯，爬攀登架，玩跷跷板，总是想方设法尽可能长时间地留人玩。他要找白人孩子玩，她妈妈不让他和黑孩子玩。她跟他解释过有色人与黑人之间的差别。两者很容易区别。有色人整洁安静；黑人肮脏吵闹。他厲于前者：他穿的是白衬衫蓝裤子；头发剃到发根以免露出黑人的鬈发，头路是理发师烫出的一条印儿。冬天，她母亲在他脸上涂采婷润肤露，使他脸色不致变得灰内。尽管他的肤色还箅浅，也有可能变得灰甶。有色人与黑人之间的界限并不总是那么分明；一些细微但显露实情的标记会使界限变得模糊，因此必须保持髙度警惕。