Plum Bun: A Novel Without a Moral

With her share of the money from her parents’ small estate, Angela travels to New York, renting a small apartment and taking in the city. With Philadelphia and its humiliations firmly behind her, Angela feels a “cherished freedom and sense of unrestraint” (92). She enrolls in some art classes in order to meet people and hone her abilities.

After changing her name from Angela Murray to Angèle Mory, feeling only a slight sense of disloyalty to her deceased parents, Angela befriends a group of white artists, including Paulette Lister, Martha Burden, and Anthony Cross, who seem like an intelligent and worldly group of people. Anthony, she finds out, has also changed his name—from Cruz to the more Anglo Cross.

The chapter ends with Angela visiting Harlem, noting that “[s]he had never seen coloured life so thick, so varied, so complete” (96). Harlem bustles with a liveliness and cultural richness she has never experienced before.

Settling into her new life in New York, Angela notices that Anthony Cross seeks her out in class, so she assumes he must harbor affection for her. She cooks him dinner at her new apartment—comfort food from home, including hash, sweet potatoes, and muffins—and they talk and laugh.