Charming as a Verb

Henri takes a walk to clear his head after the fight with his father. He runs into Corinne, who accuses Henri of using her. She also clarifies what he’s done to her mother’s career; Chantale is the first Black woman to be the Dean of English, and now she has a red mark against her because of his actions. Corinne worries that Henri has been dating her just to get closer to her mother; Henri insists he truly fell for Corinne, but Corinne can’t trust him anymore. Henri tells Corinne that he loves her, but she can’t believe him.

Henri visits his uncle Lion at work. Lion listens to Henri’s frustrations but reminds Henri of his privilege. Lion tells Henri that “You, my dear handsome nephew, are a privileged little punk who goes to bed with a full stomach every night because his father fixes toilets and drags leaky trash bags all day” (273). Lion defends Jacques, explaining to Henri that Jacques kicked Lion out the apartment because he worried that Lion would be a bad moral influence on Henri. Lion takes Jacques’s side, emphasizing to Henri that Henri is the one who made a mistake, and that Jacques has every right to be angry with him.