In The Book of Night Women, Marlon James shows Lilith’s reactions to two men, Mr. Quinn and Master Humphrey.
"Everybody watching the two. Lilith watch the two man
as both they skin got red. She watch the two man as they grip the knife and the
fork harder and talk lower and lower through grit teeth. Lilith watching man
acting like how man act when chain not round him neck or scar on him back.
Lilith think soon one goin' leap after the other and they goin' fight like wild
animal on the floor. Lilith smelling expectation and it smelling like
sweat" (141).
Here James shows Lilith's observations of these apparently civilized men
and reveals to the reader how they are really uncivilized despite their forks
and knifes and civilized discussion. Although they have not experienced the ravages of conflict themselves, they are a systematic part of it and their actions show how they are players in such a destructive business. The 'skin' that turns red is the first
thing that is described, as their skin changes from white to a different color,
revealing that under the façade of civilized behavior, these men are not at all different from the
'savages' that they put down to raise up their own status as white men. Their utensils
themselves are not simply for eating, and could be used as impromptu weapons.
Their actions holding these utensils harder and gritting their teeth evoke less
of two men dining and more of two people preparing for an armed conflict.
Additionally, Lilith observes that these men are not at all like slaves 'when
chain not round him neck or scar on him back', signifying that they do not fear
violence as they have not experienced it used against them. Living in conflict is a foreign experience for them. Her thoughts that
they will soon fight like 'wild animals' adds to this image of these men ready
to brawl on the floor. Finally, Lilith smelling 'expectation' like 'sweat'
makes this image a certainly. While these men will not literally fight on the
floor, their attitudes towards one another are made very clear. They both are
preparing for a confrontation of some kind with their metaphorical sweating and are doing
all that they can to restrain their own capacities for violence beneath their façade
of civilized men. Their expectations here are uncertain since they both are unfamiliar to the violence and conflict caused by the actions of men like them.
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