Harlem section of New York City, in northern Manhattan; it borders on the Harlem River channel and the East River; here, the area traditionally inhabited by African Americans in the 1900s.
Old Uncle Alfred Major contemptuously implies that Alfred is an “Uncle Tom” [Informal], a black whose behavior toward whites is regarded as fawning or servile. The term refers to the main character, an elderly black slave, in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s antislavery novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852).
synagogue a building or place used by Jews for worship and religious study. Here, it relates to the Jewish Sabbath, which runs from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday and is observed by the Epsteins, the owners of the grocery store where Alfred works.
squeeze the eagle to be stingy; a reference to the insignia of the eagle on U.S. currency. Here, it implies that the Jewish grocers are reluctant to let go of their money, a racist stereotype.
skull caps light, closefiting, brimless caps, usually worn indoors. Here, the reference is to yarmulkes, which are worn by Jewish men in (and sometimes outside of) synagogue as a sign of respect for God.
The Man [slang] here, a reference to authority, specifically to white authority and the police, even though some policemen in the novel are black.
