Summary: Chapter 19
The community has located a pine tree and raised enough
money to buy clothes for Jefferson. Grant’s class puts on a Christmas
program and Reverend Ambrose delivers the introductory prayer, commenting
on the foolishness of those who believe themselves educated when
they have no love for the Lord. Grant contains his irritation. During
the Christmas program, a particularly dramatic recitation of “’Twas
the Night before Christmas” affects everyone deeply, but Grant becomes
depressed thinking about the monotony of their routine. Every year
they put on the same play and sing the same songs. He wonders whether
anything will ever change in his town. A young child brings Grant
some food, and he sits looking at the gift intended for Jefferson.
Summary: Chapter 20
The date of Jefferson’s execution has been set, and Grant
goes to Henri Pichot’s house. Reverend Ambrose has already arrived
at Pichot’s, but Sheriff Guidry has not. The housekeeper assures
Grant that Guidry is “on his way,” but Grant is dubious. After a
few minutes, however, Guidry arrives. Guidry informs the others
that Jefferson will die between noon and three on the second Friday
after Easter. The Mayor did not want the execution to be any closer
to Easter or during Lent. Grant bitterly thinks about the fact that twelve
white men convicted Jefferson and now a white man has set the date
of his death. He wonders how any man could set the date of another’s
death and questions whether this procedure deserves to be called
justice.
Summary: Chapter 21
Grant visits Miss Emma, who lies under a quilt
on her bed, looking extremely ill. Grant badly wants to leave, but
he knows he should spend at least a few minutes there. After ten
minutes, he returns to his aunt’s house where Vivian pays him a
visit. Vivian says she wants to stop by Miss Emma’s but does not
know whether it is a good time. Grant tells Vivian he wants her
to be part of his life and that his aunt will have to accept that.
They get out of bed and go to Miss Emma’s. Vivian whispers something into
Miss Emma’s ear and Emma looks pleased.
At the Rainbow Club, Grant and Vivian drink brandy, and
he tells her why he thinks his aunt and Miss Emma ask so much of
him. He says they want to take pride in him, just as Miss Emma wants
to take pride in Jefferson. Vivian has put down her glass and says
she does not understand. Grant says black men have historically
failed to protect their women—either staying in the South and losing
their will, or running away and leaving the women to look after
the children. Grant insists that even those who try to change things
will break because they must shoulder the burdens of all those who
have failed before them. It is a vicious circle. Miss Emma and Tante
Lou cling to Grant, he says, because they see that he is different
from other men. They do not understand, however, that by holding
on to him they force him to shoulder a terrible burden and facilitate
his destruction. When Vivian asks how they can break the circle,
Grant replies, “It’s up to Jefferson, my love.”
Analysis: Chapters 19–21
Although Grant wants to help his community, he feels powerless
to do so. This feeling of powerlessness makes him bitter. At the
Christmas program, he reflects that nothing changes: not the songs,
not the clothes, not the people. Grant feels he cannot help or change these
people, and in order to stop this failure from hurting him, he nurtures
anger and contempt toward the people he says he wants to help. He
fans the flames of his superiority and separates himself from the
happiness of the group. Still, despite his best efforts to be callous,
Grant notices sights and moments that depress him with their tenderness:
a girl in his class gives a lovely and affecting reading of “’Twas
the Night before Christmas”; a present for Jefferson sits against
the pathetic Christmas tree, a present the children bought with
their own contributions of nickels and dimes; a plate of food brought
to Grant by a child who has noticed his misery.
Reverend Ambrose’s introductory prayer challenges Grant
to show true faith. The reverend thinks that when you believe in
God, you not only comfort yourself, you take a step toward fighting
the injustice of a white-dominated society. God is a source of hope, change,
and rebellion. Moreover, if you have faith in God, you have faith
in your people. Nevertheless, Grant is not up to that challenge, at
least not yet. Reverend Ambrose’s sermon is a precursor for his diatribe
against Grant in a later chapter.
