Her Sweet Jerome

Her Sweet Jerome Summary | Her Sweet Jerome Summary

The story begins with the black female narrator going frantically through a closet full of clothes and throwing the clothes on the bed after she has checked all of the pockets. The clothes that she is searching through were purchased by her for her man. She finds nothing in the pockets and reflects on how he doesn't like most of the clothes she has bought for him but wears them if she agrees to stay home and not touch him while he is getting dressed.

The narrator is described as a big, awkward black woman with fat handsand a fat neck and body. Her problems begin when she first falls in love with a schoolteacher, Mr. Jerome Franklin Washington III, who is ten years younger than she. The narrator vows that she would become Mrs. Jerome Franklin Washington III; later, she does. She owns a beauty shop in back of her father's funeral home. She makes good money with her business and her family has the reputation of being "colored folks with money." Her father tells her she would never get any of his money while he was alive, and the narrator takes pride in the fact that she doesn't need his money, for she is successful in her own right. Her father, however, is willing to part with his money to help Jerome, the respected schoolteacher, become part of the family. But the narrator won't let her father help, because she wants to be the only one who provides for her man.

The female narrator has a low opinion of women schoolteachers. One reason why she has such a low opinion is because these are the only women whom Jerome would talk to before and after her marriage to him. The narrator, or Mrs. Washington III, also has airs about being able to make her own way in life and be successful without an "eddicashion."

Mrs. Washington purchases expensive gifts for Jerome, such as fine clothes and a red car. When she could tell that Jerome didn't like something, she would save up or go into debt to buy him something bigger and even more expensive.

The narrator's marriage to Jerome is filled with physical and emotional abuse. Jerome regularly beats on his wife and acts as if he cannot stand the sight of her. Jerome also doesn't allow her to touch him. Jerome curses or cringes when his wife attempts to kiss him. He flinches at the sound of her voice as if the sound of it is irritating. When his wife attempts to look sexy or dresses up for church, he laughs at how ridiculous she looks. The narrator doesn't know to laugh or cry when Jerome continually runs her down, so instead she pretends to herself that her sweet Jerome looks at her with approving eyes.

Mrs. Washington does not only accept Jerome's abuse-she attempts to deny it to the outside world. She wears sunglasses to hide her bruises and tells her customers at the beauty shop how she doesn't understand how women put up with men who beat them. She proudly claims that Jerome never beats her. The customers are not fooled by the narrator's claims; they feel contempt for her and laugh at her because she acts superior. The narrator tells everyone that Jerome is a gentleman. Despite people's disbelief or outright laughing, she continues with her dignified airs to keep up appearances, for the narrator still has a lot of pride and likes to feel superior to others.

Customers begin insinuating that Jerome is keeping something from her, perhaps cheating on her. The narrator readily believes this is true since Jerome no longer makes love to her. She becomes obsessed with finding the woman who is sleeping with "her sweet Jerome" and starts collecting weapons of all kinds, searching the town. She says nothing to her husband about her frantic searching. Jerome meanwhile stays home and reads his collection of paperback books; for this, his wife is glad, because it keeps him home. Jerome agrees to stay home if she will be quiet and not interrupt his reading.

The narrator continues to become more obsessed with finding the mistress and spends most of her time searching throughout the city. She starts threatening total strangers with her knife pressed against their necks, asking if they've been with her man. At work, she accuses customers of being with her Jerome and burns them with the curling iron while doing their hair. Mrs. Washington stops taking care of her own appearance: she stops bathing, stops brushing her hair, and eventually stops working. She doesn't sleep; she stinks of her own sweat; she also stops cleaning and maintaining her own house. She starts ripping out her hair and grinding her teeth while she wanders the city. Mrs. Washington is aware that she is "cracking up" but doesn't care-she is too obsessed with finding Jerome's lover.

Then the narrator's father dies and leaves his money to Jerome. Jerome does not share the money with his wife. She never sees him buy anything with the money, yet one day it is gone. His wife is so preoccupied with trying to find his lover that she doesn't really care what he spent the money on as long as it wasn't the other woman.

As the narrator's breakdown progressively gets worse, her husband Jerome is excelling: he becomes even more respected among academic peers; he becomes known as an "intellectual"; he starts attending a group with people who call themselves by their African names; he also starts attending workshops. The narrator has no idea what goes on at these meetings or workshops. She finally busts in on one of Jerome's meetings, but still doesn't understand what is being discussed although she tries. The group is talking of violence and overthrowing. Everyone ignores her, including Jerome who starts reciting a poem with disgusting words that she has never heard before. One woman laughingly acknowledges her by asking if she's come to join the revolution. Bewildered and puzzled, Mrs. Washington leaves. She goes home and starts rummaging through Jerome's closet and the pockets of his clothes. She looks under the bed-and that is when she finds all the books Jerome has been reading. She is hit with the realization that there is no other woman, and that Jerome has not been having an affair; rather, it is much more serious than an affair. Jerome has been reading books on black power and revolution, books with words that she knows she'll never comprehend or understand.

The narrator is angry that she missed the obvious and that Jerome has been secretly laughing at her the whole time she went searching the city for another woman. She feels like a fool encouraging his "light" reading. Mrs. Washington stacks the books and stabs them with her knife. When this does not cause enough damage, she sets the bed on fire and watches the books and bed burn. The narrator is still enraged, and while the fire grows, she screams that the books are trash, yelling "I kill you! I kill you!" Then the narrator catches on fire herself and continues screaming.