Violence Week 4

The Brothers become aroused at a meeting when the topic of Ras the Exhorter is brought to the table. They believe their brotherhood is now sturdy and strong enough to defeat him. Brother Jack agrees that they are prepared to overthrow his rally, though chiming in that, “The Brotherhood is against violence and terror and provocation of any kind- aggressive, that is” (365). Brother Jack vocalizes to the group the pertinence that the Brotherhood, “Will not countenance any aggressive violence” (365). Yet contrary to Brother Jack’s speech, Brother Clifton and the invisible man become extremely vicious upon their encounter with Ras the Exhorter. After Ras has a firm grip on Brother Clifton, the invisible man “Brought the pipe down hard, seeing the knife fly off into the dark as he grabbed his wrist, suddenly hot with fear and hate” (371). Ironically, the Brotherhood members are even more aggressive than Ras himself. In this section, Ellison augments readers’ awareness that the Brotherhood is not as pure as they strive to seem to the public eye. Ellison portrays through the Brotherhood’s violent actions that the Brotherhood is just as imperfect and flawed as the rest of society.