The car salesman seems to have an important part in the story. He definitely brings up a lot of controversy by selling used cars to the black people that live in the city. Cloyd and many of the others aren’t happy with what Mr.Pink is doing. Pink isn’t like the typical “white-man” in the sense that he sells used cars as if they were his own without a license. When Pink and Sonny went into the black neighborhood Sonny mentioned how well Pink fit in there, “... I got even more comfortable because it seemed like he was in his own neighborhood (pages 65-66).”
Mr. Pink ends up giving a car to Sonny in exchange for information from Cloyd but Pink is really vague about the information he’s looking for. This makes pink seem really shady but not exactly to the point where it seems that he is up to no good. Pink seems to be one of the very few white adults in the apartments that is even willing to associate with black people. This is the reason why I think that the car salesman’s purpose in the story is to really focus on the racism occurring in the neighborhood and the apartments. Sonny begins to notice Cloyds attitude towards blacks through PInks actions. Cloyd starts to question Sonny about Pinks intentions and the reason he is selling cars to black people. “Did Pink sell a car to those colored yesterday? (page 109).” Bud shares the same hatred towards blacks as Cloyd and questions Sonny about pink as well. “What’s with that clown selling to them blacks anyways? (page 110)
Most of the characters have made it clear at this point that black people are eventually going to move into their neighborhood whether they like it or not. I predict that the Pink will have something to do with the change that is going to occur in the apartments either directly or indirectly. Since he has been the main one stirring up the racial controversy, I predict that this will be one of his major roles.
I agree with your point of pink maybe being responsible to do with the possibility of bringing in blacks to the neighborhood. Cloyd and Bud were already blaming him directly for it when they talk about him selling the cars only to them. Pink even said "But see I sell my automobiles to black folk." (118) Im pretty interested to see how the future will play out and how it could affect the neighborhood
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