Summary

"Greens."

During his final year in graduate school, the author has a couple of encounters with his Uncle Jimmy. At one point, they compare what is happening to their bodies, which are both shrinking. The author talks about how much he loves losing weight, which makes Jimmy laugh and compare his thinking to that of white girls. At another point, while driving to Mississippi and Grandmama’s for Christmas, Jimmy talks about a friend of his with whom he had gone to Alcoholics Anonymous and who complains about the white man but then behaves exactly as white people expect him and other black people to behave. Jimmy, whose behavior is becoming increasingly strange, comments that his friend, like a lot of black people, is “‘…addicted to giving the white man whatever he wants whenever he want it’” (167).

When the author...