Like a Winding Sheet: A Twisted Reaction of Violence
             Ann Petry's short story "Like a Winding Sheet" tells the tale of an African-American man who is filled with anger and frustration over his perceived status in life. The story is set during the middle 1940s, a time before African-Americans attained civil rights in America. The protagonist, Johnson, is always aware of an ache in his legs, and the tension he feels in his hands. His anger mounts as he is confronted by his white, female, "forelady", (111) and again when he believes he has been treated unjustly at a New York restaurant. Up until this point he is able to control the anger that has been steadily mounting throughout the story. Finally, upon his arrival at home, his wife's actions and words trigger the violent outpouring of physical abuse he has struggled so hard to control. Petry's use of setting, symbolization, and plot, all contribute to the overall theme of the story: that often times people become angry and frustrated over incidents that are completely out of their control, only to take out their anger in the form of violence on those individuals who are closest to them.
             The first major conflict Johnson experiences is when he arrives for work late. His supervisor, Mrs. Scott, uses the term "niggers"(111) when she confronts him about his tardiness. Upon hearing her words, Johnson feels a "curious tingling in his fingers....[his hands] were clinched tight, hard, ready to smash some of those purple veins on her face"(111). He knows he cannot react. If he did, he could be arrested and put in jail. Although he was able to continue to work after the incident, his hands remained "clenched and knotted on the handles of the cart as though ready to aim a blow" (112). The inner conflict between the man and himself (his hands) becomes more obvious when he develops the "queer feeling that his ha...