Ethan Roberts

Arguably the most important sign of the narrator’s development throughout the story is how he bases his own identity and how conscious he is in doing so. At different points in the book, his self-identity rests on different factors, such as how those in power view him, how his peers view him, and ultimately how he views himself. At the beginning of the book, he openly seeks approval from people such as the white leaders in his town, performing a speech for them. Regardless of their disinterested responses, the narrator pushes through literal pain, because he can only have self-worth if the white men find value in his words. At this point, the narrator believes the only path towards success is pleasing other people, and the narrator’s naivety only fuels this need to gratify others. Similarly (yet differently), when the narrator finds his place as a professional speaker for the Brotherhood, he still bases his self-worth based on the responses from the people; he still relies on others to...

We are first introduced to the Brotherhood when the narrator is given the opportunity to speak in front of crowds for the first time since he was young. He speaks about real issues facing the black population all throughout America, and he believes he has finally found his purpose. That is, until the Brotherhood takes a disliking towards his style of speeches and intervenes. At his most successful speech, he decides to go off-script, and aims for an emotional response from the crowd, unlike the Brotherhood’s supposed factual, straight-to-the-point style that the narrator is supposed to take on. While he is very successful in connecting with the crowd, afterwards, it is shown the Brotherhood did not like the path he was going down. Shortly after this speech, he is sent away to talk about women’s issues (out of the blue), for what he knows to be fabricated reasons. With that being said, why would the Brotherhood reassign him when he was doing better than ever? If the Brotherhood really w...