Summary
Mr. Head and Nelson, grandfather and grandson, wake up early in the morning to go to Atlanta for the day. They are typical country bumpkins: Mr. Head is cranky and prideful while Nelson is smug and pretends to understand more than he does. Nelson thinks he was born in Atlanta because Mr. Head lied to him about his origins, which were less glamorous. They discuss how Nelson has never seen a black person, though he thinks he probably did as a child, and Mr. Head warns that there will be plenty of black people in Atlanta, trying to intimidate his grandson.
They walk to the train and get on when it stops specially for them. As the conductor takes their tickets, Mr. Head puts Nelson down in front of him, pointing out how ignorant Nelson is of everything and that he has never been to the city. Soon a black man boards the train, and when Mr. Head points him out to Nelson, Nelson cannot recognize what is different about him. Mr. Head has told him that "niggers" are black, and he is confused because, of course, this man is actually "tan." Nelson feels hatred toward the black man for making a fool of him.
They decide to walk to the dining car, where they find more black people working in the kitchen and the black man from earlier sitting at a table. When one of the black kitchen workers tells Mr. Head that passengers are not allowed in the kitchen, Mr. Head makes fun of him and Nelson feels proud. They return to their seats, and soon the train arrives in Atlanta. They walk through the streets, and Nelson is excited by all the stimulation. Mr. Head is appalled that Nelson is reacting positively rather than being overwhelmed and terrified, so he tries to terrify his grandson by showing him the sewer system; it doesn't work.
As they continue to walk through the city, it becomes apparent that they are lost. They have entered a predominantly black neighborhood, which makes them feel even more lost and confused. Mr. Head accidentally lost their bag lunch, so they are also hungry. They are too nervous to ask a black person for directions, but eventually Nelson asks a woman standing in her doorway how to get back to the train. He feels drawn to her and overwhelmed by their interaction, and they take her directions toward the streetcar that will bring them back to the train station.
When they have made their way out of the black neighborhood, Nelson sits down on the sidewalk to rest. They realize that they might have been following the streetcar tracks in the wrong direction, since they don't recognize their surroundings. Nelson falls asleep from exhaustion, and Mr. Head decides to teach him a lesson by hiding from him. But when Nelson wakes up and finds himself abandoned, he dashes down the street more quickly than his grandfather can chase him. Eventually, Mr. Head finds him: Nelson has knocked over a woman carrying groceries, and she is claiming that he broke her ankle. A crowd is condemning Nelson, and he clings to his grandfather for support. In an act of incredible cowardice and betrayal, Mr. Head denies knowing his grandson. The woman is appalled more by this action than by Nelson's collision with her, and leaves them alone.
Mr. Head walks away, and Nelson follows him at a distance. Mr. Head feels horrible about his betrayal, and tries to make peace with Nelson by offering him some water at a spigot. However, Nelson refuses to speak to him and they continue to wander through strange neighborhoods. When he sees a man out walking his dogs, Mr. Head ridiculously and desperately begs him for directions to the train; it turns out they are only a few blocks away from the station. As they walk in the direction of the station, still with a large distance between them, they encounter a fake black figure leaning on a brick fence holding a piece of watermelon. Mr. Head exclaims, "An artificial nigger!" and Nelson repeats it in the same tone. They are brought together by their confused marveling at this sight, and Nelson suggests, "Let's go home before we get ourselves lost again."
They ride the train home to the country, and as they step off it, Mr. Head judges himself "with the thoroughness of God," feeling overwhelmed by his disgusting betrayal of his grandson as well as by Nelson's ability to forgive him. As they watch the train roll away, Mr. Head "saw that no sin was too monstrous for him to claim as his own, and since God loved in proportion as He forgave, he felt ready at that instant to enter Paradise." During this moment of Grace, Nelson declares that he won't return to the city, though he is glad he went once.
Analysis
Mr. Head's revelation on the train ride home to the country suggests that he has immediately gained Grace, though throughout the story there are no hints as to the role that his Christian faith plays in his life. This type of sudden revelation is characteristic of 1950s symbolic prose in the style of James Joyce and Joseph Conrad. Thus it is fitting that the "artificial nigger" they see during their fight is an agent of Grace, allowing for their reconciliation: their shared confusion about black people in the city brings them together. The "artificial nigger" is the cause of a seemingly artificial realization of God.
Before they leave the house, the grandfather thinks to himself that the trip to the city was "to be a lesson that the boy would never forget." This thought foreshadows the events that are to come, but it is also ironic because the grandfather does not know the nature of the lesson Nelson will learn. He thinks Nelson will be terrified of the big city and decide not to go back, but in reality it is Mr. Head's betrayal of him when he is scared and vulnerable that convinces Nelson not to return to the city, perhaps believing that it causes his grandfather to act differently. In the end, he learns the lesson of forgiveness, achieving Grace by reconciling with his grandfather despite the gross betrayal.
Racism is important in this story; though neither Mr. Head nor Nelson feels explicit hatred toward the black people they encounter, they certainly view them as Others and are nervous around them. When Mr. Head disrespects the black kitchen worker on the train, Nelson feels proud of him. He realizes that he is dependent on his grandfather to protect him from the unknown, including black people. When Nelson asks the black woman for directions to the train, he is overwhelmed by her presence because she is so different from anyone he has ever seen. Mr. Head later makes fun of him for gawking at her.
Ghost imagery is apparent throughout the story, especially with regard to Mr. Head. As Mr. Head and Nelson await the train on the way to Atlanta, they stare straight ahead "as if they were awaiting an apparition." As they ride to the city, they see each other's reflections in the glass window of the train: "There he saw a pale ghost-like face scowling at him beneath the brim of a pale ghost-like hat. His grandfather, looking quickly too, saw a different ghost, pale but grinning, under a black hat." When he receives directions to the train from the man walking his dogs, Mr. Head "stared as if he were slowly returning from the dead."
Mr. Head is compared to an animal as he plans to scare Nelson by leaving him on the sidewalk sleeping and as he decides to betray his grandson. As he hides and watches Nelson sleep, he is "hunched like an old monkey on the garbage can lid." When Nelson wakes up and finds himself abandoned, he "dashed down the street like a wild maddened pony" and Mr. Head "galloped after." When he finds his grandson, who is being accused of breaking a woman's ankle after colliding with her as he ran, Mr. Head denies that he knows his grandson. "The old man's head had lowered itself into his collar like a turtle's." This comparison to animals emphasizes the ignorance of the two characters. Mr. Head's plan is stupid and unsafe, and his betrayal of his grandson is cowardly.
