Plum Bn Sparknotes

Plum Bun: A Novel Without a Moral by Jessie Redmon Fauset was published in 1928. Fauset was an African American woman who for many years served as the literary editor of The Crisis, a publication of the NAACP. The book is considered one of the significant texts that contributed to the literary and artistic movement that became known as the Harlem Renaissance, a period often referred to as the golden age of African American culture encompassing music, art, theater, and literature.

On the surface Plum Bun is constructed with the traditional trappings of the romance and the fairy tale. The book goes beyond what might seem typical by dealing thematically with racism, capitalism, and sexism. The main character is a light-skinned young African American

girl named Angela Murray who attempts to distance herself from her past by passing for white in order to seek a new path to a fulfilled life. Her experience living as a part of white America makes her realize that just stepping across a racial border is not enough for her to achieve all of her objectives and possibilities in life.

The title of Plum Bun, which is Fauset’s second novel, is meant to suggest the elements that drive Angela Murray.

In an epigraph the novel quotes a nursery rhyme that provides the book’s title. “To market, to market/to buy a plum bun/Home again, home again/Market is done.” A plum bun is a pastry similar to an American cinnamon roll or an English Chelsea roll. It is sweet and made of white flour which has colored currents, raisins, or plums baked within. The term “plum bun” is also a hint at sexuality as it can also suggest an attractive piece. Angela needs to deal with black and white heritages and with her understand femininity beyond common stereotypes. Eventually she can then grapple with her psychological makeup. Stereotypically women of color were presented as typically sweet with terms such as jellyroll and brown sugar used to reference them. Angela cannot continue to see herself as a conduit of sweetness and must find self-worth

elsewhere.

The story presents two sisters Angela and Virginia Murray and their growing up in Philadelphia. Their home is filled with representations of African American culture. Much like her mother Mattie, Angela has light skin and is easily able to pass as white. Virginia, however, shares the darker complexion of her father Junius. This finds them on a different side of the cultural color line. Virginia is steadfast in not giving in to the pressures of racism. She accepts who she is in the world. Angela is constantly seeking acceptance by taking on a white façade. She reaches points where it seems to her that she has found friends and success but once her true ethnic background becomes known, she loses what she has achieved.

When the pervasive racism in society in Philadelphia coupled with the deaths of both of her parents becomes too much for Angela she decides to relocate to New York City.

She vows to embark on this new phase of her life by fully hiding her African American lineage. She has no problem being accepted in the avant-garde artistic circle inspired by the Greenwich Village of the 1920s. She enters a relationship with a young white man named Roger who appears to be part of the city’s upper class. Virginia arrives at Pennsylvania Station in New York from Philadelphia. When Angela goes to the station to meet her sister, she ends up avoiding her for fear that racism will cause Roger to reject her upon seeing her dark-skinned sister. Angela and Roger are both lying to each other in their relationship. Angela wants Roger for financial support while he turns to her for a physical relationship and does not want his father to meet her because of the interest he will have in her

heritage.

Roger eventually abandons Angela. Angela discovers what Roger’s true intentions were. Angela becomes aware of the poor treatment of a young African American artist named Miss Powell. All of these factors encourage Angela to reveal her true pedigree which leads to many of her acquaintances to abandon her. Angela’s loyal friends and her sister encourage Angela to go to Paris to pursue a career in art. One of Angela’s classmates from art school, whose father was killed in a racist uprising in the South, announces his love for her and the book ends with an optimist tone for the couple dealing with the country’s racist past.

Fauset contributed to the Harlem Renaissance not only as an author, but as an editor and critic who encouraged the production of literary works that connected to the social movements of her time. She dissuaded black authors from downplaying the racial qualities of their characters and wanted them to be writing realistically about their race. She was also active in discovering and mentoring other writers of