slavery, but is ultimately used as a weapon of defiance and an implement of strength,
as it is used by the narrator during a riot. Just as Brother Tarp lashed out against
slavery and the people that suppressed him, the narrator is metaphorically lashing out
at the injustice that he has seen. He ultimately discovers that he and the people of
Harlem have been used by the Brotherhood for the promotion of the institution’s power
and he is lashing out against this. During the riot, the narrator gets trapped in a hole
where he decides to stay in isolation and search for his own identity.
The other symbol that is relevant to the narrator is a paper doll given to him by Brother
Clifton. Brother Clifton, another member of the Brotherhood, is a dashing young Black
man who is sympathetic to the narrator’s ideas. Brother Clifton was an individual who
seemed to be stable and seemed to enjoy success in the brotherhood, but he
mysteriously disappeared. Clifton is next found by the narrator selling Sambo dolls on a
street corner. The narrator wonders why Clifton, an established and respected member
in the Brotherhood, would lower himself to becoming a street merchant. The
Brotherhood had shifted some of its emphasis away from Harlem and maybe Clifton felt
betrayed because the Brotherhood used him and then left him alone. It is no accident
that Clifton was selling puppet dolls because it is symbolic of Clifton’s sense of being
played as a puppet by the Brotherhood. The word Sambo is appropriate because it is a
term used to describe a Black who is manipulated by Whites. Clifton sense of
worthlessness is so extreme that he almost invites a situation which leads to his
demise. He resists arrest in a way that leads to his death because his identity and
purpose in life has been stripped away from him.
The narrator’s dilemma is similar to that of Brother Clifton. He comes to be convinced
that he has been used by people all his life and that this has stripped him of his
identity. As Clifton assumes the doll’s identity, the narrator assumes many other
people’s identities trying to discover who he is. The best example of this is when he
takes the identity of an individual named Rinehart’s. It is no accident that he chooses
someone with no single identity, himself, but rather a chameleon who is a preacher, a
gambler and many more personalities. Through this he broadens his horizons on many
different lifestyles and possibilities, but despite all these possibilities he cannot find
satisfaction.
At the end of the novel the narrator continues to fight for his community while the
brotherhood shifts its emphasis away from Harlem. He feels betrayed and attempts to
destroy the brotherhood. His plan does not work the way he expected it. Instead of
destroying the Brotherhood he invokes the people of Harlem to riot. In the riot he falls
down a hole where he goes into isolation. While in isolation he is able to contemplate
his situation more clearly and ultimately comes to terms with his identity. Unlike Clifton
who feels completely alone and lets himself be killed the narrator decides to, “shake of
his old skin” and go back into society.(580). He realizes that the people or institutions
(Dr. Bledsoe and the Brotherhood) he reveres are as flawed as the system they are
fighting. He grows to understand what the brotherhood and what Bledsoe could never
understand, that individuality does not exclude being part of a group. Ultimately, he
learned to be an individual for himself.
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