Submitted by jburgers@gc.cuny.edu on Wed, 2012-07-04 00:53
This crew of Negro men come from out of town to pave the town's sidewalks; the "singing" they do "in time to the rise and fall of the picks" [pick-axes] they swing is a source of entertainment to the town boys (124).
Submitted by jburgers@gc.cuny.edu on Wed, 2012-07-04 00:32
This is a generic label for the townspeople, who often appear in the story as a group - as when in the story's very first sentence the narrator refers to "our whole town" (119). They are fond of gossip and quick to make moral judgments. Given the way they enjoy the discomfiture of the haughty Griersons, they seem mainly middle class. The descriptions of "their" actions and opinions suggests a homogeneous group, one that implictly excludes the town's African American population.
