Vera is enamored with her newborn son, naming him for his radiant golden color.

After Vera Louise is disowned, she moves from Wordsworth, Virginia (accompanied by True Belle) to Baltimore, Maryland. Golden Gray is the son of Vera Louise Gray and one of her slaves, Henry Lestory. Golden Gray is a Phaeton-like character who appears in the mythologies recounted to Violet by her grandmother, True Belle. In her exploits with Dorcas, as well as her conversations with the Traces, Felice (a name that means 'happy') serves the role of a comforter. At the novel's close, Felice consoles Joe Trace, who is suffering from grief and remorse, informing him that Dorcas chose to die and rejected all efforts to seek medical care. After Dorcas is shot, Felice kneels beside Dorcas' deathbed. Feliceįelice is Dorcas' best friend and co-conspirator, sharing in her efforts to evade Alice Manfred's rules. The owner of the drugstore, depicted in Chapter 4, where Violet Trace thinks about her mother and buys malt drinks in the hopes of gaining weight. Dorcas' relationship with Joe Trace is her first, and even as she represents the 'wages of sin,' her ruptured innocence and orphaned childhood suggest that she is more of a victim, than a predator.

Her relationship with Trace, who is married, brings consequences from his wife, Violet Trace, who slashes Dorcas' face at her funeral. Dorcas' independence is marked by her relationship with Joe Trace, whose age and casual demeanor bear a marked contrast to Dorcas' speed and excitement. Throughout the novel, Dorcas' interests in jazz, the 'fast life,' and 'vampy clothing' bring about her eventual independence from her aunt's puritanical ideas. An orphan, Dorcas has come to live in Harlem with her aunt, Alice Manfred, after both of her parents were killed in riots in East St. One of the central characters of the novel, Dorcas enjoys a romantic relationship with Joe Trace, an older man who shoots Dorcas after she rejects him. Acton accompanies Dorcas to the party where she is shot and killed by Joe Trace. Acton is Dorcas' boyfriend, after she has ended her relationship with a much older suitor, Joe Trace.

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