1. Plot (Summary)
Like a Winding Sheet
“Like
a Winding Sheet”, as winding in the sheet, like that Johnson called himself as
a man who being kept family’ belief in the struggle of his life gather with his
wife name Mae. Johnson was born and bring up by his family as a Nigger. So that,
if he get insult from another races that seem racist, in his soul he always
want to give hit or fist to person who have done it on himself. Because that
was a humiliation for himself even also for his family cause it concerns with
the culture and society of his race or nation.
This
account at beginning in the afternoon a wife, Mae, wants to wake up with her
husband together. She attempts to wake up him and at the same time she laughs
when sees the twisted sheet that have used by her husband on the bed. She said,
“Looks like a winding sheet.” She also said, “You look like a huckleberry in a
winding sheet.” Although he protests that is no way to
talk early in the day, he smiles in spite of himself. As Johnson dresses for
work, he nurses his aching legs that never seem to get enough rest from one
shift to the next. When is noting
that the date is Friday the thirteenth, Mae considers staying home, but her
husband answer back to her to go to
work because it is payday, a
good luck
day everywhere. He had spent fifteen
minutes to convince her should to go to work
at same time. Thus, this case makes him come late again to work.
If this were his own plant, Johnson thinks, he
would make many changes, eliminating jobs that are hard on the legs and
figuring out ways people can work sitting down. As he pushes his cart up and
down the assembly line, he comes close to the foreman. He finds it odd to have
a white woman for a boss in a plant, and can never remember to refer to her as
the forelady, even in his mind. He tries to avoid her slit-eyed stare, but just
as he passes her, she shouts at him over the roar of the machines.
After a tense confrontation with the bigoted Mrs.
Scott, during which she humiliates him for again being late and calls him “a
nigger,” Johnson feels his fists clench and the veins in his forehead swell. He
restrains himself from smashing her face, but afterward wishes that he had
acted, because the queer, knotted tension stays in his hands for the entire
shift. Still, he cannot bring himself to hit a woman. As the hours drag on and
fatigue overcomes him, he notices the women workers starting to snap and snarl
at one another.
Finally the workday ends, and, with his paycheck
in his pocket, Johnson stops at a diner for a cup of coffee to soothe his
aching body and tense nerves. He does not pay attention to the white girl
serving his coffee until she tosses her hair and says to him, “No more coffee
for a while.” Again he feels his hands begin to clench into tight, hard fists.
He wants to hit her for refusing him a cup of coffee, assuming she has done so
because he is black, but he does not. In his hurried and angry exit, he fails
to see that the coffee kettle is empty, and she is making a fresh pot. His
anger continues to build, running through his body like poison. Everyone, it
seems, degrades and belittles him.
This realization fills his mind when he returns
home to Mae, who greets him with a cheerful greeting and a toss of her hair. He
cringes at her gesture and ignores her attempts at humor. Affectionately trying
to coax him to eat, she says, “You’re nothing but an old hungry nigger trying
to act tough and—” Before she can finish, Johnson feels his fists clench, rise,
and smash into her face, again and again and again, as if he were entangled in
a winding sheet.
2. Setting
Time : On Friday, 13th.
Place :
Harlem, New York, United Stated.
Atmosphere :
in the afternoon when will begin prepare to work at the couple of sweetheart
house.
3. Characterization
| Characters |
Characteristic |
Reason and Proof |
| Johnson |
Easy to be angry |
When he always get insult about race from others.
|
|
Consistent |
When he attempts to convince his wife that payday is a good luck day everywhere.
|
|
Complainant |
When he imagine the people who work just sit on the chair and it does not make legs ache.
|
| Mae (Johnson’s Wife) |
Like to Joke
|
When wake up her husband and when after work went to go home.
|
| Mrs. Scott (Forelady) |
Racist |
When she reprimand Johnson late at work.
|
|
Coward |
When she is afraid to the Johnson's utterances as will hit or fist her.
|
| Coffee Lady |
Racist |
No more attention to the Johnson when he ordered a cup of coffee.
|
4. Moral value/ Moral teaching
No
matter how mad you get, you can’t keep it bottled up inside of you for so long,
eventually you won’t be able to breath.
Don't forget leave your comment below yeah!^^ =Helda Arfian= CMIIW
