Summary
Richard’s intense eating regimen gives him the fifteen
extra pounds he needs, and he gains the position at the post office.
At work, he befriends an unnamed Irish man on the basis of their
common interests, particularly their love of reading. Richard meets
the Irish man’s friends, and they form a casual, cynical, witty
gang of Irish, black, and Jewish intellectuals. He also tries to
associate with a black literary group, but finds them finicky, sex-obsessed,
and superficial. Finally, Richard meets a group of Garveyites, black
Americans who follow the teachings of Marcus Garvey, a black leader
who advocated the return of all African-Americans to Africa to form
an independent nation. The Garveyites’ doctrines do not appeal to
Richard, but he admires their dignity and passion.
Following the stock market crash that begins the Great
Depression, Richard’s hours at the post office dwindle. He loses
his job entirely just when his aunt, mother, and brother fall ill.
Now in dire need of a job, Richard somewhat unwillingly joins an
insurance agency that exploits poor black families all over Chicago.
At one point, the agency decides that their existing policies are
too generous and that they must be stricter. Richard is required
to participate in a con scheme: when he and the superintendent go
to a home on what is supposedly a routine inspection, one of them
distracts the customer, while the other switches their policy papers.
Richard tries not to ponder the moral implications of his actions.
Many of the men working for the insurance company accept
sex from housewives as a valid form of payment. Following their
lead, Richard begins a sexual relationship with one of his clients,
a single mother whose main aspiration in life is to go to the circus.
Richard realizes that she is totally illiterate when she tries to
read a book upside down. Richard is disgusted with her ignorance,
but then becomes disgusted with himself for being disgusted with
her. When Richard begins a rotation in a new neighborhood, a coworker
tells him that one of the most attractive women on the route has
gonorrhea. Richard later learns that his coworker was lying in order
to keep the woman for himself.
During his rounds with the insurance company, Richard
hears a group of Communists giving speeches in the street. As with
the Garveyites, Richard respects the Communists’ passion but thinks their
ideas sound weak and vague. He finds their militant atheism amusing
but juvenile and believes that Communism increases ignorance through
the intellectual intolerance it often requires of men. Richard concludes
that these black Communists do not even understand the problems
of American racism, much less those of the global class system.
On election night, Richard amuses himself by writing “I
PROTEST THIS FRAUD” on his ballot. Meanwhile, the Depression worsens.
Richard loses his insurance job and must move to cheaper housing.
Burning with shame, he forces himself to accept food donations from
the government relief station, which causes him to feel spent and
desperate.
Analysis
Richard’s stint with the corrupt insurance company shows
how the burdens of life can force people to lower their ethical
standards. In the preceding chapters, Richard has proven himself
to be a principled person. He resists theft until despair drives
him reluctantly to steal, he cares for his mother and supports his
family, and he vigorously protests hypocrisy within his family and
at his graduation. Numerous episodes have demonstrated that Richard
has a highly developed sense of justice. Here, however, we are surprised
to see him fully participate in the dirty dealings of the insurance
agents, particularly their mistreatment of women and their illegal
policy swaps. Before we can condemn Wright’s actions too strongly,
however, he is careful to outline why he chooses to work at the
insurance company: “I could quit and starve. But I did not feel
that being honest was worth the price of starvation.” Wright suggests
that at a certain point of physical desperation, ethical behavior
becomes an unaffordable luxury. In a sense, this statement is an
extension of Wright’s assertion in Chapter 10 that
black theft and dishonesty are justified in light of the unfairness
of their economic arrangements with whites. Yet Wright is making
a different point here. In Chapter 10, he
is concerned with the survival of the entire black race in America,
saying that blacks sometimes have no way to get ahead aside from
defrauding their white oppressors. Here, however, Wright is more
concerned with personal survival, asserting that each person’s will
to survive can lead to unfair action against any group, even his
own race.
