Summary and Analysis

Summary

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. 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. Westrum hints that some members of the Brotherhood hold racist attitudes, but the narrator disregards him.

A magazine editor calls the office to request an interview with the narrator. However, the narrator yields and agrees to the interview, partly to spite the overbearing Westrum. Two weeks later, Wrestrum accuses the narrator of using the Brotherhood to further his own personal ambitions. The committee finds the narrator innocent concerning the magazine article but decides to conduct a thorough investigation of his other work with the Brotherhood.

Analysis

The anonymous letter left on the narrator's desk is another in a series of notes and letters crucial to the narrator's fate. A letter found in a briefcase, an anonymous letter, has a similar effect. It keeps him going. An anonymous letter warning him not to go too fast is essentially the same as the Headmaster's verbal warning in Chapter One. "We want to please you, but you must know where you are at all times." The message also sums up Trueblood's comment: "I must remain motionless and The narrator is expected to project an image of progress (to support the Brotherhood's image as a progressive, liberal organization without actually moving forward).

Themes

Racism

Power

Self Interest

Invisibility

Identity

Humility

Submission

Ambition

Dreams