In chapter sixteen, the narrator gives a speech at a rally among the Brotherhood, which takes place in an old boxing ring. When he takes the stage for his speech, the spotlight is so strong that he cannot see the audience and explains that, "It was as though a semi-transparent curtain had dropped between us, but through which they could see me," (357). This is ironic because he is giving a speech about overcoming blindness, as well as asking the crowd to"combine and spread our vision," yet he himself cannot physically see (361). It is as though the narrator is blindly leading the blind to open their eyes and face the truth, which is that society is full of racism and people are ignoring it because they do not want to believe it. The narrator recognizes that he refused to see the ugly truth before his rebirth; however, after his speech when one of the brothers describes it as "politically irresponsible and dangerous," and also says that "it was incorrect," he agrees to have training in order to become a more "logical" speaker (365). In this case, the brother is refusing to see the truth by saying that the narrator is incorrect. This causes the narrator to struggle with enlightenment because he is regressing back into his old ways by letting someone control him like Dr. Bledsoe had; in addition to going against everything he had advised others to do in his speech.
(My page numbers are different from the page numbers in your book!)
6.5
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