Chapters 16-19

The narrator continues working for the brotherhood; he is taken to a boxing ring to deliver a speech, but once he is on stage the lights make him nervous and he has no choice but to improvise. The brothers criticize the speech and claim it wasn’t “scientific” enough, so the narrator is introduced to Brother Hambro who understands the intentions of the brotherhood. He feels rejuvenated after studying under Hambro for some months, and eventually is promoted to chief spokesperson for the Harlem district. The narrator feels a sense of pride in this, but once again his grandfather’s dying words come back to haunt him. In one of the rallies a fight breaks out between Ras and Clinton; Ras asks Clinton why he is working for the brotherhood knowing their true motives and accuses him of being a traitor to his heritage. At the end of chapter 17, the narrator is uncomfortably aware of the divide that exists between his public persona and his internal thoughts. The following chapter is monumental because it is one of the first time’s that the narrator feels seen. He receives an anonymous letter urging him to take a slower route and reminding him that he is still living in a white man’s world. The narrator is offered an interview by a magazine editor, and some time after one of the brothers accuses the narrator of exploiting the brotherhood for his own personal gain. which reveals the dissonance that exists within the group. He is transferred to downtown and becomes a women’s rights spokesperson. After his first lecture, a white woman invites him back to her house where she proceeds to seduce him. The two sleep together, and the narrator notices a distinct difference between the way this northerner woman treated him and the southern woman who only fetishized him.