Black Is My Favorite Color

Black Is My Favorite Color Summary | Detailed Summary

"Black Is My Favorite Color" is a short story that can be found in Bernard Malamud's Complete Short Stories.

As the story begins, Charity Quietness, who we soon learn is a cleaning woman, is eating her lunch of two hard-boiled eggs while sitting in the bathroom of Nat Lime's Harlem apartment. As Charity eats, Nat has his lunch - a ham sandwich and coffee - in the kitchen.

Nat, a forty-four year old Jewish bachelor, explains to the reader that when Charity first came to clean for him a year and a half earlier, he invited her to have lunch with him at his kitchen table. On that first day, Charity did sit at the table, but left after a moment and bringing her lunch with her, settled in the bathroom to continue with her meal. And although Nat has told Charity that if she preferred to eat alone she could eat her lunch at the table first, she continues to eat in the bathroom.

While Nat describes this incident as his "fate with colored people," he also says he is nonetheless drawn to them. Through his business - a liquor store in Harlem - he has daily interactions with Negro people, but the majority of these are purely on a business basis. Nat longs to have a more personal relationship with at least one or two colored people, but so far, his attempts to do so have not been reciprocated.

In an attempt to explain why he feels so drawn to colored people, Nat discusses his belief that the only human color is the color of blood and that although he is satisfied with being white, if he were able to choose his race he would choose to be black.

Nat then says Charity's decision to eat her lunch in the bathroom reminds him of Buster Wilson, a childhood friend. Nat met Buster shortly after moving to Brooklyn from Manhattan. As Nat recalls this portion of his childhood, he explains that because his father's arthritis forced him to give up his butcher's job, his mother supported the family by selling paper bags from a nearby pushcart. No longer able to afford to live in Manhattan, the family moves to the poor Brooklyn neighborhood where he meets Buster.

Nat first sees Buster playing marbles by himself. While Nat watched from across the street, Buster played his game, pitting his right hand against his left. Nat recalls being friendly, hoping to get an invitation to play, yet it seemed as though Buster preferred to play alone.

Despite these rebuffs, Nat continues his efforts to befriend Buster. In attempt to explain why, Nat says that he likes the fact that Buster does everything alone. He is also aware of the fact that although his family is poor, many of the colored families in the neighborhood are even worse off. Even so, Nat recalls enjoying spending time in their neighborhood because it seemed to be so full of life, particularly on weekends when there were parties. Nat describes the parties as festive events in which the houses seemed to shake with music and laughter and the young girls wore their prettiest dresses and hair ribbons.

There was, however a dark side to this merriment: drinking and often, violence. Nat recalls a particular episode in which Buster's father chased another man through the streets wielding a half-inch chisel. On another occasion, Buster's father was involved in a fist fight with five other men and even though a number of people including children witnessed the fight, no one took any action to stop it until the police came, brandishing nightsticks. Nat describes seeing the police beat the men, including Buster's father, with the night sticks until they were bleeding and then throwing them into a paddy wagon and of seeing Buster witness all of this with seemingly no expression or emotion.

Confused and frightened by all he has seen, Nat runs home and steals fifteen cents from his mother's pocketbook and returns to ask Buster if he would like to go to the movies. Because Nat is paying, Buster agrees. This, Nat notes, is the first time Buster has spoken to him.

Nat and Buster go to the movies several more times, all at Nat's expense. Nat even treats Buster to candy and fruit and lends him some coveted comic books, which Buster never returns. Even so, when the movies end, Buster insists on walking home alone, even both boys live in the same neighborhood. This continues through the spring and summer until one day Buster unexpectedly hits Nat in the teeth, referring to Nat being Jewish in a derogatory manner. At the time, Nat assumes Buster simply did not enjoy going to the movies; years later, he realizes people cannot be forced into friendship.

The story moves forward several years as Nat, described as being in the prime of his life, meets Ornita Harris, a young, black widow. Nat first sees Ornita at a bus stop on a rainy November day. Ornita had dropped a glove on the sidewalk, and when Nat retrieves it, she responds with a curt "I don't like white men trying to do me favors."

A week later, Ornita enters Nat's liquor store to buy a bottle of scotch. She doesn't recognize Nat at first, but when she eventually does, she appears embarrassed and apologizes for her behavior at the bus stop. Nat offers Ornita a discount on her liquor, which she accepts. Ornita continues to visit the liquor store every two weeks to buy a new bottle of scotch and Nat instructs his employees to make sure she receives the discount.

During Ornita's regular visits to the store, Nat learns that her husband, a window cleaner, died as a result of a fall from a fifteenth story window. After her husband's death, Ornita took a job as a manicurist. Nat tells Ornita that he lives with his mother who has cancer. As he gets to know Ornita better, Nat realizes he is attracted to her. He describes her as well built with a pretty face.

The following July, Nat and Ornita went on their first date. After dinner, they went for a walk in Washington Square Park where, to Nat's pleasure, no one seemed to notice that they were, in fact, a white man and black woman. Following the walk, they went to a movie. Nat describes the date as uncomfortable, almost as though they were still strangers.

At the end of the evening, Ornita does not let Nat take her home. As she gets into the taxi Nat had hailed, Ornita questions why they are bothering to date when it seems they are so uncomfortable with each other. Even so, Nat convinces her to go out again and in August they have their second date.

Their second date ends in the furnished room Nat rented - he is not comfortable taking her home where his sick mother is, and going to her home is out of the question - and they end up spending the night together. Nat says that he fell in love with Ornita on that night.

Later that week, Nat's liquor store is held up by two black men with revolvers. Nat is injured when one of the men hits him in the head with the gun and he goes to the hospital where he remains for several weeks. By the time he is discharged, his mother has died and Nat finds himself alone.

After sitting shiva for a week, Nat asks Ornita to marry him. He suggests leaving New York and making a fresh start in another city. Ornita rebuffs his proposal saying her deceased husband would kill her, because he is still alive in her memory.

Recognizing that Ornita is concerned that their interracial marriage will not work, Nat decides not to push the issue. Even so, the two continue to date several times a week and spend every Sunday together in Nat's apartment. Nat even gives up his furnished room and buys a new bed for his apartment. Eventually, Ornita appears to be less frightened by the idea of marriage and even tells Nat that she is now seriously considering his proposal. Buoyed by Ornita's change of heart, Nat prepares to sell his store and plan for their move to San Francisco where he believes their status as an interracial couple will not be so harshly judged.

Ornita is still not entirely convinced she wants to marry Nat. She quits her job in preparation for their move only to take it back the next day. Still confused, she goes to visit her sister in Philadelphia for a week. When she returns, she says she may still marry Nat and so Nat decides to continue waiting.

One night after visiting friends, a taxi strike makes it necessary for Nat to take Ornita home on the subway. When they arrive at the station, Ornita tells Nat she can walk home by herself, but Nat insists on walking her to her door.

Along the way, they are confronted by three black men who berate Ornita for being with a white man, referring to Nat as a "Jew landlord." Nat tries to reason with the men, telling them they are all brothers, and that he is a reputable merchant in the neighborhood that employs black people at a fair wage. After insulting Ornita further, one of the men slaps her. Nat responds by hitting the man before finding himself sprawled in the gutter. The three black men take his wallet and run away.

Ornita and Nat have a date for the next night, but Ornita doesn't show up. Nat calls her at work the next day and tries one last time to convince Ornita to marry him, saying they can move away together and never return to that neighborhood again. Ornita responds that that is impossible; her family is in that neighborhood and she isn't willing to leave them.

That night, Nat takes a cab to Ornita's home only to learn that she has left for an extended period of time to visit relatives in the South. Her brother tells Nat that while Ornita appreciates his intentions, she does not think it will work out. On his way home, Nat encounters a blind man walking with the assistance of a cane. He attempts to help the man but is pushed aside by a colored woman, and hits his leg on a fire hydrant. Nat says that this episode is typical of his life-long efforts at trying to befriend black people - the more he tries, the more he is hurt. Finally, at the end of the story, we are back in Nat's kitchen where he yells for Charity to come out of the bathroom.