Following his operation at the factory hospital in Chapter 11, the narrator’s nuances of internal discord drastically crescendo, a transformation he attributes to the manifestation of “some alien personality lodged deep within [him].” His disorientation is often in response to memory-triggering experiences, one of which is an encounter with a yam stand; it is this event that inspires his spontaneous rhetoric at the site of an eviction. By some miracle, he is recruited and absorbed into the Brotherhood, an influential communist organization in the Harlem area. Now reveling in his newfound self, the narrator proclaims that his journey to self discovery has finally come to fruition.
My objective for this blog post is to examine the extent of the narrator’s freedom after joining the Brotherhood. Let’s not forget that this opportunity only materialized because the narrator finally decided to take action under his own jurisdiction. Prior to his self-revelation, the mere possibility of ordering a meal that could reflect a stereotype would be an embarrassment, but as we saw in the yam scene, the narrator seems to have found some peace with his heritage and is able to embrace it, at least in a rudimentary way, which is why why I think it is a cruel joke for Ellison to introduce the Brotherhood at this pivotal moment. Though the narrator was prepared to refuse their offer, and even recognizes that they only wants to use him, his monetary needs ultimately dictate his decision. On top of this, his induction into the organization feels too rushed for him to have fully grasped what he was getting into. Almost immediately, Brother Jack begins cramming evangelism down the narrator's throat, trying to convince him that his eviction speech stood for more than he thought it did, which in my opinion, breached the line between interpretation and coercion. It is also mentioned that he seems to be able to predict the narrator’s every move, from which table he will choose in a coffee shop to his reconsideration of the Brotherhood. If you notice, this is eerily redolent to the narrator’s earlier suspicions regarding Bledsoe’s plan for him.
At this point, the narrator's initial judgement of the Brotherhood has somewhat abated and he is at least willing to fit their mold for appearances. On page 304, he is told that their collective mission is to redeem those who have been dispossessed of their heritage and that they have been waiting for someone like him for months. Furthermore, he should forget everything he learned about sociology in college, and instead educate himself with their program’s civic material. When I read this, I thought to myself: is this not just trading one propagandism for another? My suspicions augmented when it was suggested that he become the new Booker T. Washington, a figure as much of an idol to the Brotherhood as he was to the university students. When the narrator questions this decree, he is told that “it isn't a matter of whether you wish to be the new Booker T. Washington, my friend. Booker Washington was resurrected today at a certain eviction in Harlem [...] This morning you answered the people’s appeal and we want you to be the true interpreter of the people. You shall be the new Booker T. Washington, but even greater than he.” In other words, he has no choice, just like he has no choice but to update his social conduct to their standards, cut ties with his past, take on an entirely new identity, and preach with words that are essentially handpicked by them. The narrator develops a modified version of his grandfather’s life’s work: by acting how they want him to act on the surface but continuing to think his own thoughts, he is a free agent. However, this conflict with discipline propels him into a confusion, where he is forced to contemplate how free will is involved in the most trivial of situations. Either way, he believes in the eminence of his new social responsibility and seems to plunge back into his old habits of trying to please authority and taking orders.
I will end on this note: the narrator believes he has made a significant departure from his past self and that the Brotherhood is taking him down the correct path. The program paradoxically promises him “full freedom to do [his] work” but only if he operates within its strict disciplinary framework. Is he really free or is he just imprisoned by an institution he worked so hard to rid himself of, hidden under a new name? To quote the narrator’s own skepticism: “How far could I trust them, and in what way were they different from the trustees?”
You're correct that the Brotherhood, for all its references to "scientific approaches," is often thoroughly paradoxical in its demands of the narrator (e.g. "full freedom" within "strict discipline"), and this creates ambiguities when we try to assess whether his involvement is a good thing. Of course, it does seem sketchy that, as soon as he becomes obsessed with the idea of "discovering who I am," he's literally handed a new identity from a new authority. But then Ellison has Brother Tarp hang a portrait of Douglass in the narrator's new office, and the narrator reflects on how Douglass too took a new name when he escaped from slavery and became a public figure. Now we only know him by that second name--and everyone would agree that it's his "real" name and not his "slave" name. Reinvention can be a form of finding oneself, Ellison reminds us. There's a *freedom* in being able to take on this new identity and have the Men's House guy suddenly speak to him with respect. And yet, the way the narrator's new identity is fully shaped by these outside forces leaves us wondering if he's really on the way to becoming the next Frederick Douglass.
ReplyDeleteI think the narrator has less freedom than he thinks. So far, all he has done is follow directions. Join us-> give a speech -> BAD speech, go study -> lead the harlem branch -> go to this demo in harlem. The narrator isn't making his own decisions, hell, he isn't even deciding what pictures are put up in his office. All that his work with the brotherhood is, is a nonlaborous method for earning money. Once he realizes this, he will probably move on, from the beginning scene in the book, there is no evidence that the narrator is still a part of the brotherhood.
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