This novel's protagonist scares his sister Vera with a rat after killing it with a skillet.
Characters in this novel pretend to impersonate J. P. Morgan and military officers before one asks, "What's a left flank?" A man in this novel calls another man "a furious blaze of liquid life-energy" and asks when "the delicate balance between social order and thirsty aspiration" will topple skyscrapers. In this novel, men watch a movie preview in which a society girl runs with her Communist boyfriend on the beach; that same couple later makes the protagonist take them to (*) Charlie's Kitchen Shack. This novel's protagonist scares his sister Vera with a rat after killing it with a skillet. James Baldwin named an essay collection of "Notes" after this novel, in which an earring is found in a furnace, leading Boris Max to defend a man who kills his girlfriend Bessie. For 10 points, name this novel in which Mary Dalton is smothered by Bigger Thomas, written by Richard Wright.
Characters in this novel pretend to impersonate J. P. Morgan and military officers before one asks, "What's a left flank?
Native Son