This story is based upon a real event that happened to the writer’s friend Jan Bich. This story presents the racism and hypocrisy of a family that ostensibly champions egalitarian ideals.

There were some African students in the narrator’s town. They were learning Czech language. The narrator’s elder brother, Adolf, loved a movie star Jana Brejchova secretly. But when he did not get reply from her, he started to love another girl Freddie Mourek. She was a beautiful girl with white skinny figure and dark and large eyes. Freddie was an illegitimate daughter of the Secretary of the Party cell at the Lentex linen factory in K.

One day, Freddie sang a black American song at Adolf’s house. Adolf’s father and mother became angry. When Adolf’s father asked her about her English name, Freddie said that her father’s name was Frederick Positive Wasserman Brown. He was a Black American migrant worker. Adolf’s father became very sad hearing this.

After the event, Adolf’s father borrowed books by Lysenko from the People’s Municipal Library and also started reading books by Friar Mendel. When Freddie sang Negro songs at his house the second time, Adolf’s father asked her about her father’s colour. she replied that he was completely black.

In the evening, the father told Adolf to break off his relationship with Freddie. According to Mendel, he said, Freddie would bear him a black child which would invite a scandal. People would think that the child was not of Adolf but of an African student. But Adolf said that it was too late. Adolf and Freddie had already had a physical relationship and she was pregnant.

The narrator overheard Adolf’s mother persuading Freddie’s mother for Freddie’s abortion. But she denied. Then, when it was sure that Freddie would be the mother of Adolf’s child, Adolf’s father, mother, sister, and Adolf himself started telling the people about the law of heredity. According to the law, as they explained, a completely white mother can give birth to a black child.

Freddie and her mother were angry at Adolf’s family for defaming them. Finally, Freddie ended her relationship with Adolf. She said that her father’s mother was a Japanese lady and her father’s grandfather was a Pygmy, a black African slave. So, according to Mendel’s law of heredity, she had the possibility of giving birth to a green dwarf. But after some time, she gave birth to twins, a boy, and a girl, who had a perfect pink complexion.

Important Questions Solutions:

1: Why is it significant that the events described in the story are told from the point of view of Adolf’s brother, a “third-grade student”?
Ans: The events described in the story are told from the point of view of Adolf’s brother. It is significant because he is not involved in the affair. So he can describe the events objectively. Though he is not involved in the affairs, he knows the secret thing hiding behind the picture of a statesman in his house. The evolution is not colored by any subjective feelings. So, Adolf’s brother, a third-person narrator, is appropriate enough to narrate the events objectively.

2: How does the fact that Adolf starts dating Freddie because she reminds him of the movie star Jana Brajchara emphasize the idea that people are not valued for themselves, but rather for their ability to enhance one’s social status? Why is coming from a family with an excellent class profile an example of this theme?
Ans: In every society, social status matters much. In society it is found that people want to enhance their status by any means in which 'Marriage' also is one. Adolf loved a film star 'Jana Brejchova' just because she was a famous actress and he could make a better position in society. But he left her when he knew that she was not interested with him and started loving Freddie. This shows that he had not loved the film actress wholeheartedly but only for the sake of social prestige. Freddie’s mother’s social status was also good because she was secretary of the party unit and had come from a family with a good class profile. Thus, Adolf’s interest in Jana and Freddie shows that people are not valued for themselves but for their ability to enhance one’s social status.

3: What might be the significance of “Positive Wasserman” in light of the fact that Freddie is pregnant?
Ans: Freddie’s father’s name was Frederick Positive Wasserman Brown. He was a black American. Adolf was in love with Freddie and she had become pregnant by him. According to the Mendel’s principle, the hereditary characters are transferred from parents to the offsprings. Freddie, though she was white, could give birth to black child because of the gene of her ancestor. In this sense Positive Wassermann’s mention is significant in the light of the fact that Freddie is pregnant.

4: How is the family’s hypocrisy illustrated in the changing attitudes of Adolf’s father when he discovers Freddie’s father was an (i) American (ii) a migrant worker, and (iii) black?
Ans: Adolf's father was the supporter of the protest against discrimination. So, he applauded Freddie's song to support the black. But when he knew that Freddie's father was migrated to America and was the member of the US Army, he became very sad. Again when he came to know that he was of black origin and belonged to working class, he decided not to make Freddie his daughter-in-law. In this sense, his hypocritical attitude is very clear. On the one hand, he loves black people. On the other, he supports social discrimination by not letting his son marry Freddie. In fact, he did not do like that intentionally but he was afraid of the scandal that would be spread in society with the birth of a black child in his family as he believed in Mendel's principle - "The heredity characters are transferred from parents to their offsprings".