The protagonist of this coming-of-age novel is Angela Murray, a young middle class Black woman living at the beginning of the 20th century. Angela is light skinned enough to be able to pass, or present herself as white. She resists the restrictions of racial prejudice, and she seeks the freedom and independence that she witnesses in white society—greater material wealth and higher social status. Angela is an incredibly complex and transgressive character, both sexually and racially: “Life, she considered, came before creed or code or convention” (224). She will embark upon that journey on her own terms, learning from her mistakes and triumphs along the way.

When we first encounter Angela, her immaturity is apparent in her self-centered desires and aimlessness; she “had no high purpose in life,” other than to lament her lack of freedom: “With a wildness that fell just short of unreasonableness she hated restraint” (13). This passion leads to her decision, after her parents’ deaths, to change her name to Angèle Mory and move to New York as a white woman. She discards her identity and (mostly) severs her connection to her only sister, Virginia, who, with her darker skin, has more limited mobility.