Jazz

On a spring day, the streets of Harlem are filled with music. Violet has returned the photograph of Dorcas to her aunt. She sees Felice coming up the front steps and begins to worry. The narration then shifts to Felice’s perspective. The young woman thinks about her own past and the loss of her friend. Felice believes that Joe does not see Dorcas for who she really was. Dorcas was self-involved and vapid, always worrying about her clothes or who was popular. When Dorcas began seeing Joe, she stopped spending time with Felice. She believes Dorcas was only interested in Joe for the thrill of having an affair with a married man.

Felice arrives on Joe and Violet’s doorstep for two reasons. First, she hopes to find a ring Dorcas borrowed from her on the night she died. This ring was given to Felice by her mother. Felice suspects that her mother stole the ring after a clerk at Tiffany’s treated her poorly. Second, she wants to tell Joe the truth about Dorcas and convince him to stop feeling sad.

Felice tells the couple that Dorcas was selfish and that she let herself die.