Thank You, M'am

“The woman said, ‘What did you want to do it for?’

The boy said, ‘I didn’t aim to.’

She said, ‘You a lie!’” 

The above exchange is significant given the overall emphasis the story places on personal responsibility. Although Roger eventually explains why he tried to rob Mrs. Jones, his initial instinct is to deny having intended to steal from her at all. This seems hard to square with Roger’s actions, and Mrs. Jones immediately pegs it as a lie, effectively demanding that he admit to “wanting” to steal. She does so not in anger or vengefulness but in an attempt to instill in Roger a sense of agency; if he is accountable for the harm he does, then he is also capable of and responsible for doing good.

“When I get through with you, sir, you are going to remember Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones.”

On the face of it, Mrs. Jones’s words as she hauls Roger back to her apartment seem to be a threat. Certainly, that’s how Roger interprets them, since he redoubles his efforts to free himself. However, by the end of the story, it’s clear that Mrs. Jones meant something very different; she doesn’t intend to punish Roger but to forgive him and, in doing so, to teach him about the importance of empathy and about his own worth as a human being. This is presumably what Roger will ultimately “remember” about Mrs. Jones.

“Roger looked at the door—looked at the woman—looked at the door—and went to the sink.” 

Although Mrs. Jones takes Roger back to her apartment and tells him to wash up, she also leaves the door open, implicitly providing him with the opportunity to leave. She indicates her respect for Roger as a person with free will, and this very acknowledgment of his humanity is part of what motivates Roger to stay; it puts him at ease and provides him with an incentive—Mrs. Jones’s kindness and respect—to live up to Mrs. Jones’s trust. The fact that he then washes his face is also significant, signaling a growing desire to take responsibility for himself and to be “clean” in a moral sense.

“‘I wanted a pair of blue suede shoes,’ said the boy.

‘Well, you didn’t have to snatch my pocketbook to get some suede shoes,’ said Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones. ‘You could of asked me.’” 

Roger’s admission about why he tried to rob Mrs. Jones is significant for several reasons. First, it reveals that his actions weren’t driven by physical need; he meant to use the money he stole to buy a relative luxury, not food. Notably, however, Mrs. Jones doesn’t condemn Roger for this, which suggests that both she and Hughes are sympathetic to his desire to improve his lot in life. In addition, Mrs. Jones’s response to Roger is a key moment in the story’s exploration of empathy, highlighting Mrs. Jones’s charitability while also framing Roger’s actions as a kind of failure of empathy; he resorts to stealing because it doesn’t occur to him that Mrs. Jones might give him the money if he asked for it. This inability to imagine Mrs. Jones’s response is understandable, given that Roger probably knows very few (if any) people who would do what she does for him. Nevertheless, it’s an assumption that Mrs. Jones seeks to correct in hope that Roger’s future interactions with others will be marked by empathy on all sides.

“‘I were young once and I wanted things I could not get.’

There was another long pause. The boy’s mouth opened. Then he frowned, but not knowing he frowned.”

Mrs. Jones’s words mark a turning point in her relationship with Roger. When she admits that she knows firsthand what it’s like to “want things she could not get,” Mrs. Jones places herself on Roger’s level, implying that she too might have acted as he did under different circumstances. The fact that she doesn’t qualify her admission with a “but” further underscores this point and clearly impresses Roger; his confusion suggests he expected Mrs. Jones to condemn him from a position of moral superiority, not empathize him as an equal. This acknowledgment of shared humanity is key to the change that takes place in Roger throughout the story, because it signals to him that he can in fact change for the better.

“[Y]ou set down while I fix us something to eat. You might run that comb through your hair so you will look presentable.” 

When Mrs. Jones asks whether Roger has eaten dinner, his response—that there’s no one at his home—implies both that he hasn’t and that he lacks parental care and guidance in general. Mrs. Jones temporarily steps into the role of a mother by feeding Roger and by suggesting that he comb his hair. The significance of the latter lies in the symbolic relationship between hygiene and morality in the story. Like washing, combing one’s hair is an act of personal responsibility. It’s also an incentive to continue to care for oneself in the future; the more “presentable” Roger looks, the more he feels compelled to behave in a way that corresponds to his appearance.

“[T]he boy took care to sit on the far side of the room where he thought she could easily see him out of the corner of her eye, if she wanted to. He did not trust the woman not to trust him. And he did not want to be mistrusted now.” 

Roger’s behavior in this passage is perhaps the story’s clearest statement about the transformative power of empathy. Once she has brought Roger to her apartment, Mrs. Jones treats him not as a would-be criminal but as someone with inherent worth and dignity as a human being. In part, this means treating him as someone deserving of trust even when his actions suggest otherwise. In this passage the decision proves justified: Roger wants to live up to Mrs. Jones’s treatment of him, and so he tries to prove that he is trustworthy by remaining in her line of sight.

“The woman did not ask the boy anything about where he lived, or his folks, or anything else that would embarrass him. Instead, as they ate, she told him about her job in a hotel beauty shop that stayed open late, what the work was like, and how all kinds of women came in, blondes, red-heads, and Spanish.” 

The above passage underscores Mrs. Jones’s intuitive empathy for Roger and his situation. Roger has implied that his parents or caretakers are rarely home, but beyond that he has said almost nothing about his background. Nevertheless, Mrs. Jones understands (likely from her own experience) that engaging him in conversation about his poverty and loneliness would do no good; in fact, it would only “embarrass” him at a time when he has been trying to impress her with his good behavior. Nevertheless, there is a bittersweet quality to the topic Mrs. Jones does settle on. Her work in a beauty parlor offers her (and now Roger) a glimpse into her mostly white clientele’s more privileged existence. This is presumably the kind of world Roger, with his desire for fashionable shoes, would like to be part of, but it’s unclear whether he’ll ever be able to do more than look in on it from the outside in the way that Mrs. Jones does.