"'What?' Arline was genuinely surprised. 'You in Harlem and never been to a cabaret? Why I thought all colored people went.'

Emma Lou bristled. White people were so stupid. 'No,' she said firmly. 'All colored people don't go. Fact is, I've heard that most of the places are patronized almost solely by whites.'"

Here's the context: white, popular actress Arline wants her black servant, Emma Lou, to go with her to a Harlem nightclub. Arline's brother is visiting and wants to see what black clubs are all about. But Emma Lou points out that the well-known "black" clubs aren't really all that black— white people who want to be cool are their biggest patrons.

If you heard that the Jazz Age was all about racial harmony in clubs that brimmed with jazz, dancing, and alcohol, then allow Emma Lou is out to set you straight. As she points out, those nightclubs Arline goes to in Harlem aren't really places that blacks go to.

The whole idea of the Harlem Renaissance being a high point for race relations in this country is a bit of a fiction.

Not just that: things don't get clearer than Emma Lou's thought, "White people are so stupid." Her clear disdain for Arline pretty much indicates that, at least when it came to black culture in Harlem, white people really didn't know where the party was at.

Quick question: Who does Emma Lou sound like? If you said "that know-it-all in my history class" or something like that, then you've got Emma Lou down. Emma Lou is educated and she's not afraid to show it.

How do we know this? Note the way she responds to Arline, "I've heard that most of the places are patronized almost solely by whites." "Patronized almost solely by whites"? Who talks like that?

Your English teacher, for one. And Emma Lou too. But also, there's nothing too special going on with Thurman's prose here, right?

Not unless you compare how Emma Lou speaks to how Arline, her white boss, speaks. "You in Harlem" is definitely lacking a verb. And beginning a statement with "why" isn't exactly the Queen's English.

Compared to Arline, Emma Lou might as well be a professor. And that's the point. Emma Lou points out a historical truth—that a lot of Harlem clubs were more for white people than black people—by patronizing Arline.

(By the way, you don't get more patronizing than "White people were so stupid." Good thing she didn't say that one out loud.)

Patronizing Arline is the only way Emma Lou can show power in a relationship that's unequal to begin with. In a whole society where whites typically patronized blacks (like going to Harlem nightclubs featuring black performers but dissing them in other public spaces).

Emma Lou may not be the most pleasant person to hang out with, but you have to admit, she knows how to defend herself.