Plum Bun: A Novel Without a Moral

Angela deals with intense loneliness following the end of her relationship with Roger. She thinks about putting down roots, and rather than craving independence and freedom, she now praises what she perceives as her sister Jinny’s strengths—“leading an utterly open life” (243). Still Angela fails to grasp the source of her problems: “Where did the fault lie? Not, certainly, in her determination to pass from one race to the other” (243). She believes that perhaps she has been too practical with her choice of friends.

In the end, she realizes that only Anthony and Rachel Salting remain in her life, and she cultivates a deeper friendship with Rachel. She finds the comfort of this friendship brings her an uncomplicated happiness for a time.

Suddenly, Rachel is offered a promotion to head librarian in a Brooklyn suburb, so Angela is again plunged into loneliness. She realizes how much she misses her sister and decides to try to reconcile, traveling between the world of her white friends and job in the Village and the Black world of Jinny’s Harlem. Angela thinks her two identities can coexist: “when it seemed best to be coloured she would be coloured; when it was best to be white she would be that” (253).