Like a Winding Sheet

The story’s point-of-view is significant, as Johnson is a very dynamic and complicated character. Johnson shifts from the protagonist who refuses to hit women to an antagonist who beats his wife. This dramatic shift and concluding display of violence is especially intense because of the narrative closeness to Johnson’s perspective. We see the story and unfolding events mainly from Johnson’s point-of-view, although the narrative is in the third person. The closeness to Johnson’s point-of-view elicits a complex humanization of the character. In exposing the structural racism and exploitation of Johnson’s daily life, Petry creates a sense of sympathy for the main character. This sympathy, however, is complicated when Johnson gives in to his violent urges. The focus on Johnson’s point-of-view also highlights the gender dynamics of the story further. Although the story is fueled by Johnson’s interactions with women, we never understand the events from a woman’s perspective. This rootedness in Johnson’s psyche is another representation of the unequal gender imbalance that pervades the story and results in the ultimate violent act. Lack of perspectives from the female characters, in a sense, acts as a silencing of their thoughts and experiences, and again foregrounds only Johnson’s interpretation of events through his mind’s eye.