Close reading of passages
"I leaped aside, into the street, and there was a sudden and brilliant suspension of time, like the interval between the last ax stroke and the felling of the tree, in which there had been a loud noise followed by a loud silence. Then I was aware of figures crouching in doorways and along the curb; then time burst and I was down in the street, conscious but unable to rise, struggling against the street and seeing the flashes as the guns went off back at the corner of the avenue, aware to my left of the men still speeding the rumbling safe along the walk as back up the street, behind me, two policemen, almost invisible in black shirts, thrust flaming pistols before them. Pg. 535
What is:
- Narrator has another near death experience
- injury very similar to founder in Barbee's speach
- has no idea where to go or do next for the first time
What is an example where the author explores the idea of Blindness in chapter 25?
Accepted answers could relate to:
The narrator’s inability to see during the chaos in the beginning of the chapter
“curtain of blue fire through which vague figures toiled” (539)
When the building is burning “Ras or Tarp could move beside me and I wouldn’t know” (550)
"I whirled, still moving by reflex, back-tracking and stopped and now there was another and another, seven - all hanging before a gutted storefront." Pg. 556.
What is:
Metaphor for Brotherhood figurative lynching of the narrator.
or
Irony because the number seven represents completeness and perfection.
What does the narrator killing Ras the Destroyer represent in relation to the meaning of the novel?
It represents him taking his life into his own hands ("it was better to live out one's own absurdity than to die for that of others")
The men with the safe being shot at and the narrator being in the way of the gunfire
Harlem is not a safe place to be, the narrator was put in direct gunfire and was shot.
"There was something I had to do and I knew that my forgetfulness wasn't real, as one knows that the forgotten details of certain dreams are not truly forgotten but evaded. I knew, and in my mind I was trying to reach through the gray veil that now seemed to hang behind my eyes as opaquely as the blue curtain that screened the street beyond the safe. The dizziness left and I managed to stand, holding onto my briefcase, pressing a handkerchief to my head. " Pg. 537.
What is:
emotional trauma masked by the layers of denial, repression, and grief.
What is an example where the author explores the idea of Invisibility in chapter 25?
Accepted answers could relate to:
The cops being “almost invisible” in black shirts, lots of “dark figures”(537 &538)
When asked who he was, the narrator says “’nobody, just one of the boys—” (542
Flashlights to the floor, the group not revealing themselves
“I was one with the mass” (550)
“I was invisible, and hanging would not bring me to visibility” (559)
Being invisible
"I let fly the spear and it was as though for a moment I had surrendered my life and begun to live again, watching it catch him as he turned his head to shout, ripping through both cheeks, and saw the surprised pause of the crowd as Ras wrestled with the spear that locked his jaws." Pg. 560.
What is:
Turning point for narrator, feels for the first time he can speak and act for himself rather than having his mouth glued shut like Ras' jaw is from the spear.
What does the narrator being covered in bird droppings represent?
It was meant to create a parallel between him and the founder.
Dupre instructing the men to pour kerosene over the building he lives in.
He is burning down the place where he and many other black people live. It is an incredibly radical movement that, for better or for worse, will enact huge changes.
"But still whirling on in the blackness, knocking against the rough walls of a narrow passage, banging my head and cursing, I stumbled down and plunged against some kind of partition and sailed headlong, coughing and sneezing, into another dimensionless room, where I continued to roll about the floor in my outrage. How long this kept up, I do not know. It might have been days, weeks; I lost all sense of time. And everytime I paused to rest, the outrage revived and I went off again. Then, finally, when I could barely move, something seemed to say, "That's enough, don't kill yourself, You've run enough, you're through with them at last," and I collapsed, face forward and lay beyond the point of exhaustion, too tired to close my eyes. It was a state neither of dreaming nor of waking, but somewhere in between, in which I was caught like Trueblood's jaybird that yellow jackets had paralyzed in every part but his eyes." Pg. 568.
What is:
Narrator's descent into madness, relating to several men early in the novel who he believed to be crazy.
or
the first moment we see the thought's the narrator has wanted to express ever since his grandfather died and haunted him.
What is an example where the author explores the idea of expectations and disguises in chapter 25?
Accepted answers could relate to:
The briefcase supposedly being loot (539)
“ain’t you a doctor?” (551)
“wasn’t that you that woman was calling brother back yonder?” (551)
The brotherhood planning the riot (553)
“by pretending to agree I had indeed agreed” (553)
"Well, there was only one thing to do if I was to make a torch. I'd have to open my briefcase. In it were the only papers I had.
What is:
symbolism for getting rid of the last pieces of his old life.
What does the narrator having to burn the contents of the suitcase represent?
It represents him leaving behind his past.
The narrator left his briefcase up in the building, which had been lit on fire. He runs back in and retrieves it, and makes it out safely.
The history he carries around with him in his briefcase has enough significance to him for him to risk his life to save it.
And now I realized that I couldn't return to Mary's, or to any part of my old life. I could approach it only from the outside, and I had been as invisible to Mary as I had been to the Brotherhood. No, I couldn't return to Mary's or to the campus, or to the Brotherhood, or home. I could only move ahead or stay here, underground. So I would stay here until I was chased out. Here, at least, I could try to think things out in peace, or, if not in peace, in quiet. I would take up residence underground. The end was in the beginning." Pg. 571
What is:
Protagonist learned that it wasn't the new things/people he met in his journeys, but what he learned about himself.
What is an example where the author explores the idea of the weight of baggage in chapter 25?
Accepted answers could relate to:
Going back to get the briefcase in the burning building, even if it risked his life
“I have enough” even though the only things he has are the reminders of his past
Using the bag as a weapon against a dog, at the same time having the bag be a weight against his leg (553)
Using tarp’s chain and the briefcase as weapons against Ras’s men
"I lay like a man rescued from drowning, listening, still not sure if I was alive." Pg. 562.
What is:
Connection to the theme of being invisible. Being completely aware of the surroundings but not being able to do anything about it.
What does the narrator being underground represent?
It represents him hiding from society and accepting his invisibility.
People are throwing bricks at police from the tops of buildings, and the police start shooting at them in retaliation. The narrator is with Scofield, and they run for cover. Scofield takes out a gun and starts shooting back at the police.
by shooting back at the cops, Scofield is making this much bigger than any other riots that have happened.
"I looked at Ras on his horse and at their handful of guns and recognized the absurdity of the whole night and of the simple yet confoundingly complex arrangement of hope and desire, fear and hate, that had brought me here still running, and knowing now who I was and where I was and knowing too that I had no longer to run for or from the Jacks and the Emersons and the Bledsoes and Nortons, but only from their confusion, impatience, and refusal to recognize the beautiful absurdity of their American identity and mine. . . . And I knew that it was better to live out one’s own absurdity than to die for that of others, whether for Ras’s or Jack’s." Pg. 559.
What is:
epiphany of the world being meaningless and American life being equally as meaningless.
or
trying to fulfill others expectations is unrealistic and destructive.
What is an example where the author explores the idea of illusionment in chapter 25?
Accepted answers could relate to”
The bodies of women actually being mannequins, and the boys laughing
Any part of the dream at the end
"It's a kind of death without hanging, I thought, a death alive." Pg. 566.
What is:
Commentary on death and how you can be dead without physically being dead.
What does the "free of illusion" line in the narrator's dream represent?
It represents freedom from the lies he has been told.
Ras the Destroyer appears through the crowd, riding a horse. He gets stuck in the crossfire between Ras and the police. Ras sees the narrator and orders for him to be hanged.
Stuck between Ras and the police, The narrator considers giving up and becoming a martyr. He runs instead, deciding that there has been enough death and that continuing to live is better resistance.