Prologue - Chapter 2
One things that is very interesting in these chapters is the treatment the narrator gives to the white men, when they treat him so badly. This really stood out in the part in the chapter one where he is with his grandfather, who is on his deathbed. His grandfather is ashamed of himself for having been quiet. This sticks with the narrator, as he too lives a quiet and meek life. The grandfather also described the lives of black Americans as a warfare. So when it mentions that all the white men complimented the narrator on his quiet life, it shows that they do not want to have to fight with the narrator. They are praising him for keeping quiet about his social rights, the battle that they always want to put off. That is the very problem we are dealing with in this book. During those times, many white men did not want to deal with the issue of racism, and would do anything to put it off or to appease for the time being, without actually solving the issue. They wanted to discriminate against a race, and not have any repercussions, which is impossible. Even in the book, the narrator seems to be a calm, even headed man, however, even he reaches a limit and when it is passed, he attacks a man, almost killing him. The problem is, that these actions only provided the ability to twist and corrupt the truth by blaming the black man, when the white man was really the cause of it. Do you think that we will see more evidence of this later in the book? Also, do you think the narrator's attitude will begin to shift throughout the book, will he begin to become less quiet?
n chapters 1-2 there is a lot of reminiscing going on about the narrator and his grandfather and past. He talks about his grandfather a lot and how he was a freed slave. After he was freed he apparently lived a very meek life. I would say that this is obviously because there was still hatred among whites and blacks (even though it was thought that they were separate but equal). There is a part where the narrator has a dream about going to the circus and he has a briefcase. Inside the narrator finds an official envelope with a state seal. He opens and there is another envelope, and in that one yet another envelope. The last one contains an engraved document reading: “To Whom It May Concern . . . Keep This Nigger-Boy Running.” The when the narrator woke up, his grandfather’s laughter was ringing in his ears. I think that this is scary but it makes sense. I think that the dream is kind of saying that his grandfather and his past is controlling him…it may be symbolic like when the whites were controlling the blacks. They are always implanting fear in the victims’ minds. What do you think?
ReplyDelete-Danielle Mumm
One thing I saw that was interesting in the story was the fact that the narrator was told that he should know better then to give the white people what they want, and this time it was by the school president. This is the same thing that his father said. I find it interesting that even the school president, who was put in his position by a white man, wants to fight against them. I think this will be an interesting dynamic in the book, as he is punished for giving the white man what he wants. This might change him and make him less compliant, as he does not want to be punished, and he wants to make people proud. As we saw at the beginning of the book, he eventually gets aggressive with a white man, and I think that this will be a story of how he got progressively angrier and angrier. This could result in him getting in a lot of trouble with white men, and it might result in a problem. Do you think that this will become a major theme and problem in the book?
ReplyDeleteChapter 2 starts out with the narrator thinking about his time at college. This chapter could be looked at as a memory of something for him. He begins by remembering extreme excitement the college’s bronze statue of its Founder, a black man. I think that this is really significant because in that time, it rather meant that he was in control of all the teachers and students there-both had blacks and whites. As the memory continues, to make some extra money, he drives Mr. Norton around the campus, and in particular, the old cabins. These cabins were used to house slaves but now they are used to house poor black sharecroppers. I do not know if this was a very good idea. It even says that the narrator regretted bring Norton to the cabins, because Mr. Trueblood lives there and now Norton wants to speak with him on account that Trueblood impregnated his own daughter.
ReplyDeleteBut all of this leads up to what happened in chapter 3 where Norton blacks out. In hopes to revive him, the narrator drives him to a tavern to try and get him to down some whiskey. Eventually some unsupervised and apparently, “mad” black veterans have to help revive Mr. Norton by pouring Whiskey into his throat. Late their supervisor gets upset with them, but I think they did the right thing. I think that he got mad at them though because they were in the tavern, which also doubled as a brothel. What do you think?
Later in chapter 5, we are taken to a church service where the founder is again talked about. A story is told about his near death experience during his childhood. I think that this is all leading up to something about the founder and I think that he will play a bigger part as the story continues.
Chapter 6 is very important. Bledsoe gets angry with the narrator for stopping at Trueblood’s house. In response he tells Bledsoe that he was only following orders. This leads to Bledsoe saying that white people are foolish and they sometimes give foolish answers. Then the narrator replies with, “I’s big and black and I say ‘Yes, suh’ as loudly as any burrhead when it’s convenient, but I’m still the king down here. . . .”. This is significant because no matter how he is treated the narrator still follows directions. Why do you think that is?
(Thanks, folks. Don't forget to use quotes in every entry!)
ReplyDeleteSince this portion of the reading was a bigger portion, we learned a lot in through chapter 18. In chapter 7, Dr. Bledsoe is on a bus in New York and he sees the veteran that made fun of Mr. Norton and the college and has arranged to have the man transferred to a psychiatric facility in Washington, D.C. I think that this was a little bit over the top on Bledsoe’s part, because I don’t think he should have the power to do that. What did you think of the events that happened in chapter 7? Later on in chapter 12 we meet a character named Mary. I think that Mary is a very impactful character with a strong willed mind as she says, “I’m in New York, but New York ain’t in me.” I think that this shows her independence. What do you think? Then in chapter 18, the narrator gets a letter that is unsigned telling him not to “go too fast” and to remember that he is still a black man in a white world. This is scary for him because even though he is in a black brotherhood, there is still this kind of thing going on.
ReplyDeleteI think the events in chapter 7 are meant to be formative for the narrator. The narrator is still looking at things rather shallowly. I think that the man's quote, "But for God's sake, learn to look beneath the surface" is very important because it shows that the narrator is still naive about the whole situation at hand.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to Mary, I also think she is a very influential character. She nurtures the narrator while he is down, and then tries to influence him into becoming an activist, which he eventually does become, although it may not have been because of Mary since he was annoyed at her constantly trying to influence him.
One of the things I thought was interesting in these chapters was the paint. The paint company was know for their "Optic White" paint. This was their main product which claimed to cover anything, or make anything white. The slogan for it was "If It’s Optic White, It’s the Right White." I thought this was an interesting point as the narrator then relates this slogan to a quote that regarded whites as superior. Yet the interesting part of this portion for me was that the paint was initially brown, and then a black chemical is added to it, which makes it white. It is the black that makes the white. I though about this in regards to the slogan and the quote regarding white supremacy, and thought that perhaps the white people may have been trying to make the black people like them, as the paint can make any color white, and the black chemical eventually becomes white.
Also, one topic I wanted to talk about as the two different forms of activism. The brotherhood's form seems to be more subtle, as they seem to be calling for the approval of white people. On the other hand, Das calls for complete distrust within the white culture. These two ideas seem to compete with each other, creating an even more problems in reaching justice. instead of working together, they spend time trying to convince the same group of people of two different ideas, and therefore having less success in actually making progress toward social equality. What do you think about this?
I think that chapter 19 is the most important because some crazy things happen. In chapter 19, the narrator is a women’s right activist speaker and he gives a speech. After that a white woman invites the narrator into her home to talk about the ideologies of the brotherhood, or so he thought. What the woman really wanted was to seduce the narrator and trick him. I think that this was very surprising given that he is in a brother hood, what do you think? One of the most surprising parts was the woman’s husband never saw the narrator. How do you think that this affected the narrator? I would say that this experience made him even less trusting toward people than he already was. In chapter 20, the narrator visits a bar that he used to visit and he meets Clifton, who is selling Sambo dolls. Quickly Clifton gets in trouble with the police for selling his Sambo dolls. In chapter 21 and 22 focus a lot on belonging, betrayal, and most importantly individuality within the brotherhood. I think that being in the brotherhood is taking his individuality and freedom away. What do you think about the brotherhood and its sense of individuality?
ReplyDeleteI think that it served as a lesson to the narrator not to get caught in situations like that again. As for the brotherhood, it has a different agenda from the narrator. If he chooses to follow it, he will not be himself and therefore not be individual, but I does not look like he likes the new way the Brotherhood is operating.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I wanted to talk about is the way the Brotherhood treats the narrator after he gives his speech at Clifton's funeral. They treat him terribly because Clifton did not fit with their agenda. They put their agenda in front of the agenda of the people. They could have used the situation to help fight racism, but instead they let it go. The Brotherhood seems to have more of an agenda to silence the black people then to really help them. One quote that was significant to this was, "Black and white, white and black," Tobitt said. "Must we listen to this racist nonsense?" This comes right after the narrator claims that if Clifton was white, he would not have been shot. The Brotherhood does not seem to care about the fact that the death of Clifton was directly related to race. They do not seem to be really working towards racial equality. They seem to want to keep the white people happy while giving the bare minimum to the black people which will keep them silent. What do you think about this? Is the Brotherhood looking to help the black people or just silence them.
In the end of the book, specifically chapters 23 and 24, there is a lot about the brother hood. I think that the brotherhood became so important near the end of the book because of the fact that they seemed odd and like they were not even really standing for what was right. First of all, Ras changed his nickname from “Ras the Exhorter” to “Ras the Destroyer”. Why do you think that he changed his name? I think that it is on the account of the brotherhood. The brotherhood is ruining a lot of people. In chapter 24, people are beginning to get a lot more fearless to stand up for what is right. We see that the narrator sends out Brotherhood members to discourage the violence and denounce the press for exaggerating minor incidents and making them seem like the major incidents that they actually were. What is your opinion on that? Also, the narrator goes to a house alone with Sybil, a brotherhood member’s wife and gets her drunk. She wants him to rape her, but then the brotherhood calls and he is needed immediately. Then he learns that Ras is inciting the violent destruction, and he realizes that the Brotherhood had planned the race riots all along. I would expect this from the brotherhood. Would you? This quote is very deep: “I have . . . been called one thing and then another while no one really wished to hear what I called myself. . . . I am an invisible man.” He really feels invisible.
ReplyDeleteI think that he has changed what he is being called to Das the Destroyer because of his plans. He wants to in effect, destroy the white people and the power they have.
ReplyDeleteWhen the Brotherhood tries to lessen the offenses, they are trying to cover up the racism that is constantly going on. And no I would not expect the Brotherhood to do that.
It is in these chapters that the narrator seems to find the truth of identity. He dons the disguise as the Reverend Rinehart. It is here that he discovers how valuable identity is. He seems to be able to become anyone just based on the way he looks, and as he changes looks, people attitudes change toward him. People judge off of the way they perceive the narrator. This was the whole thing about racism also as the people just had different skin color. The quote, "If dark glasses and a white hat could blot out my identity so quickly, who actually was who?" explains this, as he thinks upon how identity is just a perception.