Power and Sex in Chapter 25


The only real mention of sex is when it is revealed that the character Dupre had gotten a girl, Lottie, pregnant. This is seen when she says "Please. You know my time's almost here...you knows it is" (546). This shows that Dupre has some power over his small community, as he is able to convince even a pregnant girl to leave her home without repercussions.
While sex doesn't play a very large role in this chapter, power certainly does, and one of the best examples is the power that the racists that trap the IM in the sewers have over the IM, through both their racism and the explicit societal power their race gives them. This is seen in a line that occurs as they are looking down at the IM through the manhole, and one of them remarks "Nigger in a coal pile, eh, Joe?" (565).