Brother Jack And The Narrator Character Analysis

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Brother Jack and the Narrator’s relationship is similar to the relationship of Cyclops and Odysseus from The Odyssey; Cyclops is one-eyed and in order for Odysseus to return home, he must outwit the Cyclops. In order for the Narrator to discover himself, he must leave Brother Jack’s narrow-minded path for him, “He stopped, squinting at me with Cyclopean irritation” (Ellison 474). The Narrator’s aspirations for social and political rights when dictated by white influence are risky because he is relying on social change from a well-established system that gives control to the people who have it: the whites (Herberg 202). Both men similarly take advantage of the Narrator for their own personal gain; only when the Narrator is not being boomeranged