All Her Little Secrets

Ellice faces Racial Dynamics in the Workplace daily, although she is just as qualified to work at Houghton. Her coworkers expect her to prove herself in a way that her white counterparts are not required to do to prove themselves. Morris emphasizes this theme through the ways Ellice is tokenized, and the loneliness and isolation she feels in response.

Ellice learns code-switching at Coventry Academy Prep, which is when someone changes their natural behavior or speech patterns to assimilate to a society that does not accept them. At Nate’s cocktail party, Ellice realizes everyone else at the party, all of whom are white, treat her as “[t]he good one. The safe one,” or they completely avoid her (74). Ellice’s isolation increases when she tries to engage with one of the Black waitstaff and the woman looks at her coldly. Ellice accepts this as “another example of [her] being ‘too Black’ for one group of people and ‘not Black enough’ for the other” (82). Ellice carries the burden of representing every Black woman to the white people at the party, while simultaneously appearing to think that she is better than the Black waitstaff around her. Ellice’s desire for success in the corporate world contrasts with her desire to speak up against the discrimination that people of color face from the corporation.