Why will they not give Ruth a job in Harlem?

At this time, Ruth was just beginning to discover Harlem; it was "like magic". She went to the movies and looked for a job there, too, but no one would hire a nineteen-year-old white girl. Eventually, she found a job as a beautician, but damaged a client's hair and was fired. Finally, she was hired to work in a nail salon. Rocky, the owner of the salon, was in his fifties and drove a nice car, and Ruth thought of him as "prosperous". Before long, he was driving her home, taking her out, and setting her up in a room of her own in Harlem. Ruth would stay away from home for days at a time, and Bubeh started getting suspicious. Ruth, however, wasn't as innocent as she seemed: she knew that Rocky wasn't only a nail salon owner. She had even begun inquiring how she could go out and make money like his other girls. When she ran into Dennis in Harlem, he shamed her, telling her that her family was worried about her and that Rocky was a pimp. Her parents, he said, didn't raise her to become one of Rocky's women. Dennis's disappointment prompted Ruth to move back to Bubeh's. Rocky tried to win her back, but eventually stopped coming around.