Summary: Chapter 18
The narrator receives an anonymous, unstamped letter telling
him not to “go too fast” and to remember that he is still a black
man in a white world. He asks another black member of the Brotherhood, Brother
Tarp, if anyone in the organization dislikes him. Tarp assures him
that he is well liked and says that he doesn’t know who wrote the
letter. Tarp asks the narrator if he comes from the South. Tarp
then confides in him that he spent nineteen years in a black chain
gang for having said “no” to a white man. He gives the narrator
a leg iron to remind him of their real cause.
Another black member of the group, Brother Wrestrum, glimpses
the leg iron on the narrator’s desk and suggests that he put it
away because it “dramatizes” the racial differences in the Brotherhood.
Wrestrum hints that some members of the Brotherhood hold racist
attitudes, but the narrator disregards him. Wrestrum then suggests
that every member of the Brotherhood wear a symbol so that the Brothers
can recognize their own members: Tod Clifton once beat up a white
Brother during a street brawl after mistaking him for one of the
hoodlums trying to quash a Brotherhood rally.
A magazine editor calls the office to request an interview
with the narrator. The narrator tries to persuade the editor to
interview Clifton instead, but the editor cites the narrator’s favorable
public image; he wants to give his readers a hero figure. The narrator explains
that every Brother is a cog in the machine, each sacrificing personal
ambitions for the benefit of the whole organization. Wrestrum silently
encourages the narrator as he expresses these sentiments. However,
the narrator yields and agrees to the interview, partly to spite
the overbearing Wrestrum. Wrestrum leaves the office.
Two weeks later, Wrestrum accuses the narrator of using
the Brotherhood to further his own personal ambitions. He points
to the magazine interview as evidence. The narrator considers Wrestrum’s
face a mask: behind the mask, he imagines, the real Wrestrum is
laughing. The committee finds the narrator innocent in regard to
the magazine article but decides to conduct a thorough investigation
of his other work with the Brotherhood. They transfer him downtown,
out of the Harlem District, and make him a women’s rights spokesperson
for the duration of the investigation. Although disappointed, the
narrator decides to dedicate himself fully to his new assignment.
He packs his papers into his briefcase and leaves.
Summary: Chapter 19
After the narrator’s first lecture as a women’s rights
activist, a white woman invites him into her home to discuss the
Brotherhood’s ideology. She turns out to be a neglected wife who
aims to seduce him. She and the narrator sleep together. Later in
the night, the woman’s husband comes home. Since the husband and
wife sleep in separate bedrooms, he simply pokes his head inside
her darkened room, briefly asking her to wake him early in the morning.
When the wife bids him a good night’s rest, he returns the sentiment,
but with a short dry laugh. The narrator dresses and rushes from
the building, unsure of whether he dreamed the husband, and incredulous
that the husband seemed not to notice him. He vows never to get
himself into such a situation again.
The Brotherhood summons the narrator to an
emergency meeting. The members inform him that he will be transferred back
to Harlem and that Clifton has disappeared. The Brotherhood has
lost popularity in Harlem, while Ras has gained an ever larger following.
Jack tells the narrator that he must attend a strategy meeting the
next day.
