The explosion at Liberty Paints has placed the narrator in the hospital; the factory hospital, to be exact. And in a vague resemblance to a superhero's origin story, he comes out of the accident a changed man. It's here that the tone of the prologue starts to trickle back into the narrative, as the narrator begins talking to people in a different manner, an example being when he asks the official that's discharging him if he knows who Mr. Norton is and laughs when he says he doesn't. As the narrator realizes after this exchange, there is no longer a fear of authority figures that keeps him from speaking out. This is because he now knows that since "there was nothing which I could expect from them, there was no reason to be afraid."
With this lack of inhibition, the next chapter sees the narrator start speaking to the riled up crowd gathered around the evicted elderly couple, one of whom had been struck by the sheriff overseeing the eviction. In his speech, the narrator repeatedly tells the crowd that they are a "law-abiding people," says that the couple's belongings are junk so they should be allowed to pray in their old home because religion is all they have. This scene initially confused me a bit, since I was unsure of what the narrator's intentions were for this speech; was he trying to defuse the situation or escalate it? Rereading a few parts, it appears that he himself was unsure of what to do, because in regards to the prospect of violence, he "both wanted it and feared the consequences, was outraged and angered...yet surged with fear" (275). However, he was not afraid of people being hurt but afraid of "what the sight of violence might release in me." After rereading I think I see that the speech was intended to use the old couple's belongings to point out what little the black people have, or what little direction they have, even though they've been law-abiding; he implies that more action needs to be taken so that they aren't dispossessed. I'm not completely sure, but I do know that the narrator's proactivity demonstrates his changed behavior. Following the impromptu speech, the crowd attacks the sheriff, who shoots back at them, but he's overpowered and beaten up. The narrator then calls for everyone to take the furniture back inside, but more police eventually arrive, which is when the narrator decides he should leave. These events wouldn't have happened if the narrator hadn't taken the initiative to speak up, which is something he wouldn't have done when he still had college officials to impress. And what he says is the opposite of what they'd like their students to believe.
This is a really interesting post, I feel like the whole scene of the narrator's speech is kind of confusing and your post has a good interpretation of it. When I was reading about the speech, I too wasn't sure what the narrator was doing and like you say, it kind of seems like he's escalating and defusing the situation at the same time. It was almost funny to me as well, because at times it seemed like the narrator was playing a joke on the people and saying stuff that meant more than he let on.
ReplyDeleteReally nice post. I too was confused thinking about what the narrators intentions were when giving the speech, but after reading your post I feel clearer on what the narrator was trying to do. One thing I found really interesting was how you brought up that the narrator would not have spoken up if he still had the college officials to impress, which relates to our recurring ideas in class discussions of the narrator's growing character development and his ability to think on his own through the course of the book.
ReplyDeleteSame as Saahithi I was didn't know whose side the narrator was on, knowing that he should be against the authority now that he's changed. Also I related the narrator here to Bigger Thomas, in that they both are afraid of the consequences of going against authority yet they want to so badly.
ReplyDeleteEllison seems to be going off the idea that religion has been a very important aspect in the lives of black communities. During slavery religion often gave slaves hope and was used as a coping mechanism for the difficult life they faced. Taking your first stand against something that is wrong is terrifying and difficult for most people. Especially when there are serious consequences they can face. The fact that he did anything marks a significant development in his character.
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