Mr. Henry's Departure

About halfway through the novel, on page 99, Mr. Henry touches Frieda's breasts and is driven from the household by Claudia and Frieda's mom and dad:

"...when Daddy saw him come up on the porch, he threw our old tricycle at his head and knocked him off the porch."
"Did he die?"
"Naw. He got up and started singing 'Nearer My God to Thee.' [a well-known hymn often sung at funerals] Then Moma hit him with a broom and told him to kee the Lord's name out of his mouth, but he wouldn't stop , and Daddy was cussing, and everybody was screaming."
"Oh, shoot, I always miss stuff."

This scene is a good example of comic relief in a tragic story. "Oh, shoot, I always miss stuff" would be hilarious if we weren't aware that there was no one to drive Pecola's father away. The parallelism is clear; the mixed emotions of comic relief and pain create a complex texture that is distinctive.