In Langston Hughes story, "The Blues I'm Playing," we are introduced to a young girl, Oceola Jones, who is a pianist sponsored by Mrs. Dora Ellsworth. Mrs. Ellsowort's character is one of the more complex characters as she seems to struggle with dealing with her life after her husband passed away. She has no children of her own and is very wealthy. The story tells us that "it gave her pleasure to share her riches with beauty."" However, it seems that Mrs. Ellsworth, at times, has trouble finding where the real beauty lies, in the youngsters or in the art that they make. .
Oceola Jones isn't the only one that she sponsors. She also sponsors several other people such as painters and singers; however, it is never really clear if she is sponsoring their talent or their beauty. As we read we come to find out that she has sponsored very attractive young males who paint things that are not very attractive yet she has turned away great talent because they themselves are not very attractive. .
As we read on, we see that there seems to be a conflict between Mrs. Ellsworth and the piano player. Oceola at first does not really trust Mrs. Ellsworth's generosity. One can imagine that a young African American girl, who is being sought out after by an elderly White woman, would have her doubts. This also speaks to the times in which white and blacks just did not mix. For Mrs. Ellsworth is almost becomes some sort of obsession with Oceola. She wants to know everything about her, what she does, where she lives, if she is involved with anyone. On page 106 we see that Mrs. Ellsworth calls Ormond Hunter to inquire about the man living with her. She wants to know if he is more than just a roommate. It is almost as if Mrs. Ellsworth is a bit jealous. When Oceola states that she "hates woman roomers " Mrs. Ellsworth responds by saying that she would think that all roomers are terrible. Almost as if she wants Oceola to talk more about her male roomer and possibly offer some sort of agreement to the opinion.