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The book’s title plays on the third line of a popular children’s rhyme, which follows the second line historically included a racial epithet, “catch a n** by the toe”(in the US and other
English-speaking countries like Australia). Mid-20th century variants in the US replaced the epithet with “tiger.”
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The main characters are the protagonist, Bob Jones, and two women: Madge
Perkins, who is white; and Alice Harrison, his higher-class African-American girlfriend. Bob struggles for place in a white-dominated world and is filled with violent thoughts against white people, but does not act on them.
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In what is described as a "sexually charged novel", Madge makes a racial slur toward Bob. His calling her a "bitch" results in his demotion. He considers raping her as a way to get back at white
America, seeing her as a symbol of "whiteness", but when she expresses sexual attraction to him, he
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His fears invade his dreams, aspirations, and passions. His dream of making something of himself in
California is jeopardized as he reacts to the actions of the white people around him. He struggles to contain his urges to fight, kill, and rape as ways to overcome his resentment of white power
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paranoia, resentment from whites on the floor working at the same jobs as "colored boys", and the baiting of black workers by some white females.
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rejects her. Alice tells Bob it is no use getting angry about the inequality that blacks must live with, and he has to learn to deal with it.
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Critics praised this first novel by Himes, classifying it in the "protest novel" tradition established by
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The story spans four days in the life of Robert "Bob" Jones, a newcomer to Los
Angeles from
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Michael P. Jeffries, "The Rage in Harlem, and Beyond", review of
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suffered by black people, color differentiation among
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