The meaning of the Mule Bone story is in its hysterical ending. The story reads like a brilliant joke: Two men are fighting over a girl for her heart. She asks who's more willing to support her by working a job they don't really like. They both say they would. Then she says they have a job waiting, working for a local white man. When the men hear that whoever marries Daisy will have to work for a white man, they both quit pursuing her immediately and are reconciled as friends.
In other words, racism is still so serious that these men would rather lose the girl of their dreams than to have to report to a manager who will almost certainly treat them like a slave. This humorous element serves to remind the reader about a real situation that is not funny at all—the ongoing racism against black people in the years following the abolishment of slavery. Hurston and Hughes are showing that even though it has been more than half a century since slavery ended, black people are still so mistreated when they work for white people, that to work for a white person is to degrade oneself.
The competitive views of justice are still meaningful, even though in light of the ending of the novel, the conflict seems misguided. It is still interesting to consider that two denominations of the church come to rescue their respective members—this serves as a picture of diversity among the black community, but it also serves to remind people that there are many layers and nuances to justice.
