This chapter jumps back in time to the earliest period of Joe's life that he can remember. This chapter narrates the episode which affected Joe's entire outlook on life and thus became one of the most crucial episodes in Joe's life. First, it was there that Joe first learned that he might have Negro blood in him and the remainder of his life is an attempt to compensate for these two bloods. Here also he received his name "Christmas," since he was left at the orphanage on Christmas.
Mainly, however, this chapter establishes Joe's attitude toward women and toward his concept of an ordered existence. Slipping into a dietitian's room, he stole some toothpaste because it was a new experience and it tasted sweet. Having eaten too much and at the same time having to hide in the closet where the dietitian kept her clothes, Joe became sick while the dietitian was making love with the young doctor named Charley. When the dietitian discovered Joe's presence, she immediately called him a "nigger bastard," forcing Joe to correlate his actions with his Negro blood.
Joe, as a child of five, knew that he had done something wrong and expected to be punished for his offense. The dietitian, not realizing that Joe was too young to comprehend her promiscuity, lived in fear that Joe would tell on her; at the same time, Joe lived in a state of dreadful anticipation, expecting to be punished for his offense. Instead of being punished, he was offered a dollar, and he could not understand this contradictory act.
