To pick up our Jazz music metaphor again, the narrator continues to feel some cognitive dissonance in regard to his place in the Brotherhood. To paraphrase a definition of "dissonance," it's as if he's hearing several "unharmonious" chords simultaneously, and must, somehow resolve the tension. He gets the letter and is unsure about whom to trust. Is he being backstabbed by the Brotherhood (a repeat of the Bledsoe situation) or is someone just trying to bring him down? In literature, of course, we call it internal conflict.
*What do you make of this letter?
*Who are "they"? Who will cut the narrator down, according to the letter?
*How is Brother Tarp's chain link different than Bledsoe's?
*What does the narrator mean when he says that Brother Westrum "snatched [him] back to the South"?
*How does the setting of the beginning of the chapter contradict the woman's tone?
*How are sound devices used to express the ambivalence the narrator feels about the woman?*How is asyndeton (omitting conjunctions where they would normally be used) used to show the building panic in the narrator's mind as he leaves the building? In other words, how does Ellision merge style and content?
*Explain the significance of the following quote: "My nerves were in a state of constant tension, my face took on a stiff, noncommittal expression, beginning to look like Brother Jack's and the other leaders."
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Edith Wharton
John Steinbeck
Mark Twain
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Ralph Ellison
Alice Walker
4 comments:
The letter that the narrator receives is pretty cryptic. I've made it out to be a warning. It's a form of foreshadowing also. The "they" referred to in the letter are white men, most likely the white men of the Brotherhood. The letter warns the narrator that he is doing too much and bringing too much attention to himself. It foreshadows the conflict between the narrator and Wrestrum. Wrestrum claims that the narrator is trying to rule everything and make the Brotherhood all about himself. He is becoming too popular among the people of Harlem, and the people's focus must be returned to the Brotherhood and not the narrator. The narrator does not follow the advice of the letter, and is cut down by the Brotherhood, as the letter warned.
The narrator describes Brother Tarp's chain much differently than Bledsoe's. Bledsoe's chain is very neat and polished, while the one received from Brother Tarp shows marks of violence and haste. The chains may be symbolic of the the men's experience in the white world. Bledsoe's experience living under white men left him unscathed, in fact, he may have even been bettered by his experience. On the other hand, Brother Tarp's experience with white men left him tattered and bruised. His 19 years of imprisonment left him with a lame leg, and his chain shows the wear and tear of his life. Tarp was harmed by the white man's society, while Bledsoe was propelled by it.
I interperet this letter two diferent ways. I partially think the letter is a way to discourage the narrator because the author of it jealous of the progress he has made in such little time. It was probably written by a white person who still has problems with a black person having so much power even though they are all supposed to be equal and respected in this organization. The author of the letter is probably still a little racist and sees themself as higher than a black man despite the goal of the organizatin. I also see this letter as a warning, stating that even though the narrator has made good progress in the brotherhood that the rest of the world will still see him as nothing but a black man, and he should be careful with his power and popularity.
I think the "they" spoken of in the letter sent to the narrator is the Brotherhood. Who ever wrote the letter knows something the Brotherhood has planned and wants to warn the narrator of it. The person who wrote the letter must know that some of the men in the Brotherhood feel the narrator has too much power over the Brotherhood.
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