Like a Winding Sheet

Although Poverty and Economic Exploitation is a key, overarching theme throughout “Like A Winding Sheet,” much of the story’s conflict is actually internal rather than structural or social. The racism-fueled socioeconomic conditions of Harlem form the backdrop of the lead characters’ behaviors and tensions because Johnson is fatigued, in pain, and furious over the harsh conditions of factory work. These socioeconomic conditions fuel a more central conflict within the story, which is the one between Johnson’s personal moral code and his visceral, heightened emotions. In other words, one of the story’s key conflicts is actually between Johnson and himself—a personal conflict that arises when Johnson struggles between the man he wants to be and the man he becomes under highly stressful and infuriating situations. This personal conflict, then, falls under another of the story’s themes: Intention Versus Emotion.

Throughout the story, the narrator implies that Johnson has good, moral intentions. This is evidenced because the narration is very close to Johnson, and the reader is privy to all of Johnson’s internal thoughts and feelings. At the beginning of the story, Petry portrays Johnson’s opinion of himself compared to other men: “[H]e couldn’t bring himself to talk to her roughly or threaten to strike her like a lot of men might have done.