He works the night shift where he is on his feet for 10 hours. His foreman, who is a white female, calls him over to her one day after he is late consecutively. After a tense confrontation with the prejudiced Mrs. Scott, she humiliates him for again being late and calls hima nigger.? Johnson feels his fists clench and the veins in his forehead swell. He restrains himself from smashing her face, but regrets it because the knotted tension in his hands remains the entire shift. .
Finally, the workday ends, and Johnson stops at a diner for a cup of coffee to soothe his aching body and tense nerves. While he is there he has another confrontation, this time with a waitress. She refuses to serve him anymore coffee. Johnson then storms out of the diner failing to see that the coffee urn is empty and that the waitress is making a fresh pot. .
This realization fills his mind when he returns home to Mae, who greets him with a cheerful greeting. He cringes at her gesture and ignores her attempts at humor. Affectionately trying to coax him to eat, she says,You?re nothing but an old hungry nigger trying to act tough and--?. Before she can finish, Johnson feels his fists clench, rise, and smash into her face, again and again, and again, as if he were entangled in a winding sheet.
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The conflict inLike A Winding Sheet? begins to unfold when Johnson has a confrontation with his foreman. As you recall, in this argument Mrs. Scott calls Johnson anigger.? This starts the blood-pounding emotions that Johnson feels in his hands and forehead:His fists were doubled. His lips were drawn back in a thin narrow line. A vein in his forehead stood out swollen, thick? (Petry 127). Things gets worse as Johnson makes his way to the subway after work and stops by an all-night diner to have a relaxing cup of coffee. After a few cups, the waitress refuses to serve him anymore saying,No more coffee for a while? (Petry 130).
