Chapters 1 through 5 Summary and Analysis

John Thomas, known to family and friends as Piri, is a child during the Great Depression and grows up in New York. His mother is a light-skinned Puerto Rican and his father is very dark. Piri takes his dark coloring from his father and spends his life trying to balance the need to fit in with his need to acknowledge his African American background. From the time he is twelve, he knows his father treats him differently from his siblings and he attributes it to his own dark-skinned appearance.

At twelve, Piri is walking down a street thinking he is never again going to be in a position to be hit by his father. He walks and wishes he had decided to run away during the daylight hours rather than at night. He finally considers that his father is...