Ralph Ellison Brother Jack Speech Analysis

Originally, the protagonist had no interest in Brother Jack’s offer to him, however he soon realized this opportunity could be beneficial. He began to work with Brother Jack and his associates and agreed to undergo excessive amounts of studying to speak to crowds more effectively. When they felt he was ready to speak, that is when he did. The speech was something he was longing to do, however he had a significant amount of pressure on him. The protagonist spoke confidently to the crowd in saying, “They’ve tried to dispossess us of our manhood and womanhood... They think we’re blind-un-commonly blind… Think about it, they’ve dispossessed us each of one eye from the day we’re born… With both our eyes we may see what makes us so uncommon, we’ll

He is speaking to a crowd not worrying about anybody’s disapprovals, focused solely on getting his point across in any way he can. His voice is developing into something he himself probably could not have expected. People’s opinions constantly have a negative effect on him. One man commented, “In my opinion the speech was wild, hysterical, politically irresponsible and dangerous… And worse than that it was incorrect” (Ellison page 349). Despite hearing a few men disagree, the protagonist did not let those words discourage him. The crowd seemed to understand his words and relate to everything he had preached to them so he was satisfied in himself. After hearing others opinions on the speech, he reflected and thought, “For now I realized that I had meant everything that I had said to the audience…I was someone new…I had been transformed…I sat there in the dark trying to recall the sequence of the speech. Already it seemed the expression of someone

He started to take a stand for himself. He spoke up because he noticed something was wrong and finally understood how he should be treatment and his needs as an individual. For once, he began thinking about what was favorable for him, instead of what was beneficial for everyone around him. At his last Brotherhood gathering he expressed, “Everywhere I’ve turned somebody has wanted to sacrifice me for my good- only they were the ones who benefitted. And now we start on the old sacrificial merry-go-round. At what point do we stop? Is this the new true definition, is Brotherhood a matter of sacrificing the weak” (Ellison page 505). Once he left this meeting, he thought about the Brotherhood and his past relations before them and within his mind saw “Jack and Norton and Emerson merge into one single white figure. They were very much the same, each attempting to force his picture of reality upon me and neither giving a hoot in hell for how things looked to me” (Ellison page 508). Before when he was searching for acceptance in others, he permitted their mistreatment towards him. Once he decided he was going to accept himself and start to live his life the way he actually wanted to is when he recognized how cold-hearted they were towards him and he decided to stand up against them. In his dream, all their figures appeared and tried to taunt him and cause him to conform to them once