20-22

Chapter 20

1.     The narrator has been away from Harlem for several months. What “emergency” calls him back downtown?

He needed to talk to Brother Maceo.

2.     What changes have taken place in the movement since he left. (Note how things have changed in the Jolly Dollar Bar.

There is a more harsh environment, and he meets antagonism when he greets a member of the Brotherhood as “brother.”

3.     What does Ellison mean when he says that returning to Harlem was “like returning to the city of the dead?”

There is no longer any activism shown, and he mentions that the brotherhood no longer focuses on advocating locally, but rather nationally.

4. What is Clifton selling?

He’s selling Sambo dolls.

5. How does the Sambo doll relate to the Sambo bank?

The  Sambo doll will do whatever the consumer desires, and it will dance and act happy. It will do whatever the owner pleases and will act happy in order for rewards, like the bank.

6. What do you think the doll symbolizes? Consider the fact that it is a puppet whose strings are pulled.

The doll represents African Americans, and how white society controls them. The African American community does whatever the white people ask in order to gain rewards. (At least this is the ideology of it) It is all an act, and what they seem is not what they truly feel.

7. How does Tod Clifton die? What is the narrator’s reaction to his death?

He is shot down by a police officer. The narrator tries to help, but is directed not to, and he is asked to leave. He feels guilt and sorrow for not trying to help out more.

 

Chapter 21

1.     Why does the narrator feel guilt over Clifton’s death?

He feels guilty for not standing up for Clifton. He feels as if he could have prevented his death by doing so.

2.     Look at the funeral speech. How many times does the narrator use Clifton’s name? Why so many?

He uses it at least 15 times. It is so the crowd won’t forget about him, even though he is ironically asking them to. It is a moment in which many find anger, and express their emotions, so Clifton marks this moment. Saying that they need to forget about him is what the white society would say, and to not give it little importance. However, to those of color it is a moment in which there is a clear division between blacks and whites.

Chapter 22

1.     Why is the meeting with the Brotherhood described in terms of a dream?

How they all confront the narrator with how they want things to be run seems unrealistic to him. What he sees from the crowd of Harlem is vastly different from what he hears from the Brotherhood. While he thought he did the right thing in his speech, it was not so popular in the committee.

22.     On p. 463, the members are said to have “flowed in one channel too long and too deeply.” What does this mean?

They no longer se the ones who they are fighting for, and only see themselves because they are in their own little hole. The voices that demand to be heard from Harlem are not heard because the Brotherhood is the committee that supposedly represents them.

33.     Why does the Brotherhood object to the phrase “personal responsibility?”

The brotherhood acts as a collective group, and does not appreciate new ideas lowing in on their own. Any wrong move can hurt their reputation, which is one of their main priorities.

44.     Contrast the reaction of the Brotherhood to the funeral speech to the audience’s reaction to the graduation speech. Has the narrator come full circle?

The Brotherhood sees the speech as a harmful consequence because they no longer feel in control. The speech for the audience was a wake up call to take action because their emotions were finally beginning to be expressed. The narrator now realizes their true objectives and priorities.

55.     What is the significance of Brother Jack’s glass eye? How does it develop the sight image that is throughout the book?

The narrator once believed that Brother Jack could truly see him as a person. However, after Clifton’s death, and the reveal of the Brotherhoods true intentions, the narrator realizes that Brother Jack is also blind and to him, the narrator is still invisible.