Black

Appearance

"... a morose fellow with a blond buzz cut." He has blue eyes and lifts weights, and is notably muscular as several characters comment on it throughout the book.

Black wears glasses to read, he is not referenced wearing them otherwise.

When the water goes out, Noble and Sphinx borrow some of Black's clothes, which are athletic jerseys. Sphinx says that Black, "abandoned his tank tops, shaved his head, and stopped wearing suspenders over baggy pants," so we can assume that was part of his personal style prior to leaving the Fourth.

After Black becomes leader of the Sixth, Mermaid reveals to Sphinx that she thinks Black is trying to imitate his looks and mannerisms because he admires him, and that Black now "drapes his jackets over his shoulders, wears bandanas, and wraps his shoelaces around the ankles."

## Notable Relationships

* Smoker
* Sphinx
* Blind
* Humpback
* Red

## Before the House

We know Black has been in the House since he was six, presumably the earliest age one can arrive there.

## In The House

Black is something of an enigma to our early narrator Smoker, who notices his distance from the rest of the Fourth.

"No one ever sat on Black's bed, except him. Nor lay down on, fell onto, put his feet on top of, or threw dirty socks over. Nobody put anything on it at all. That bed, always crisp, perfectly tucked and turned, seemed thoroughly out of place here. As did Black himself."

(To Add - Noble, Blind)

The reader eventually learns that Black is none other than Sportsman, the antagonist of the Past episodes and bully of Blind and Grasshopper, sparking this animosity. Much later, Black explains to Sphinx that the reason he was bullied so viciously is because Elk, the juniors' counselor, pulled them all aside and asked them to look out for Grasshopper, which was unprecedented for newcomers and caused some lasting resentment. Black and Sphinx form a tentative friendship after that, and Black even invites Sphinx to join those leaving with the bus that Black stole with the help of Rat.

## On the Other Side

Black does not go over to our knowledge. However, when Sphinx and Noble jump, they see Black as an altered version of himself - "Black must be forty-something. An imposing figure of a man, naked above the waist, with an axe tucked into his waistband for some reason. Handsome. Head balding in the front, face more lined than might be expected, but still. A Conan the Barbarian in his middle age. [...] Black is the way he wants himself to be."

## As of Epilogue

Black leaves the commune formed by those who left with the bus after a financial dispute with Red. He is now Smoker's manager and sees Smoker regularly. Black speaks dismissively about the House, graduation and the Sleepers, but Smoker references their mutual inability to forgive Sphinx for having a "choice" - presumably about whether to go over or not.

Black's final narration ends on a note of resentment towards Sphinx, indicating that perhaps old grudges were not forgiven after all.

## References

1. ↑ Book One, p. 27
2. ↑ Book Three, p. 510
3. ↑ Book Three, p. 477
4. ↑ Book Three, p. 477
5. ↑ Book One, p. 114
6. ↑ Book Three, p. 490
7. ↑ Book Three, p. 517