Characters

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Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones

Mrs. Luella is the protagonist of the story. She is initially described as a large woman who can definitely take care of herself when alone in the street at night:

She was a large woman with a large purse that had everything in it but a hammer and nails. It had a long strap, and she carried it slung across her shoulder. It was about eleven o’clock at night, dark, and she was walking alone, when a boy ran up behind her and tried to snatch her purse.

She is African-American, but this is not rev…

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Roger

Roger is a boy of fifteen who initially appears as an attacker and a thief: “It was about eleven o’clock at night, dark, and she was walking alone, when a boy ran up behind her and tried to snatch her purse.”

Still, he is not as he appears to be. Mrs. Luella is the first to notice that he is “frail and willow-wild”' and that he might have had a good reason why he tried to steal from her.

When Mrs. Luella grasps him, the boy is obviously very scared…