The narrator feels that he “benefit' from Red's 'strength and faithfulness” and Red, meanwhile, sees the mutual advantage of the narrator's “wit and quickness”.

Their friendship is cemented when the narrator saves Red from embarrassing himself during a spelling competition. There, he makes a strong friend in “ Red Head”, or as he later calls him, “Red”, an older and larger boy who has been held back from advancing in grades. After a few pleasant years at a private school, the narrator's mother enrolls him in a public school. He also embraces his school books and loves learning as much as he loves playing the piano. He finds much joy in music, soon surpassing his mother and impressing his first teacher with his natural gift. Early on, the narrator takes up the piano, imitating the songs his mother plays. One day, the narrator's mother takes him to Connecticut, where she proceeds to raise him as a “perfect little aristocrat”. He remembers that his father once gave him a small coin with a hole bored through it that he still wears around his neck. His earliest memories are punctuated by his father's infrequent visits. He describes his early childhood growing up in a small town in Georgia right after the Civil War. The first-person narrator, whose name the reader does not know (for the purposes of this study guide, he will be referred to as “the narrator”), begins by explaining that he Is going to divulge his greatest secret, a painful and fascinating secret that he has kept for years.

The ex colored man