Blindness 4

After the funeral march held for Clifton, the narrator finds Brother Jack along with other members of the Brotherhood at his office. Brother Jack angrily tells the narrator that he should not have affiliated the Brotherhood with the march, because Clifton was a "traitor," (478). The argument escalates and Brother Jack ends up taking out his glass eye. The narrator is shocked and disgusted by the "transparent" eyeball, while the other brothers seem to have been aware of Brother Jack's false eye (485). The glass eye represents not only Brother Jack's blindness, but all of the Brotherhood members' blindness. They believe that they are trying to stop racism, yet they dismiss the fact that Clifton, a black "unarmed man," was unjustifiably murdered by a police officer, because they are more concerned with the fact that he was selling racist dolls (477). By excusing the murder of Clifton, the Brotherhood is not preventing racism, or taking a stand against it, which they claim is the sole purpose for the committee.  This is because they believe "it might harm the prestige of the Brotherhood," and they are not willing to sacrifice their image in society for what is ultimately right (480). The narrator comes to the realization that the brothers are basically the same as the majority of society, who are not willing to acknowledge how ample racism is in America.