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China, Poland, and Miss Marie (derisively called the Maginot Line) are Pecola’s neighbors, a trio of sex workers. Although they are shunned by others in the neighborhood for their profession, they are unfailingly kind to Pecola, telling her stories and asking after her welfare. The narrator notes that they have no regard for innocence. Instead of associating innocence with purity that should be preserved, they consider it representative of ignorance that they are better off without. As a result, they talk about sex bluntly around Pecola because they do not believe hiding it would be protective or helpful. They have no shame about their profession and seem more content with their lives than almost any other character in the novel. The novel contrasts their bawdy warmth with the cold respectability and pretense of other characters such as Mrs. Breedlove or Mrs. MacTeer. By portraying mothers as unhappy and tragic, and sex workers as happy and carefree, the novel deconstructs ideas about purity and respectability. They may be social outcasts who engage in work considered dirty, but China, Poland, and Miss Marie are happy, honest about who they are, and warm.
