Studied by 34 people
Jack the Bear
P.6 "I am neither dead nor in a state of suspended animation. Call me Jack-the-Bear, for I am in a state of hibernation."; Character in the Tar Baby animation with Briar Rabbit; Uncle Remus Tales
Thinker-tinker
prologue: P.7 "Though invisible, I am in the great American tradition of tinkers. That makes me kin to Ford, Edison, and Franklin. Call me, since I have a theory and a concept, a 'thinker-tinker.'";-referring to himself, many lightbulbs 1, 369 in his den
singer of spirituals
P.10 "And I tore myself away, hearing the old singer of spirituals moaning, 'Go curse your God, boy, and die.'"
In prologue: woman who is emblematic of the confusing legacy of race in America. Her master is her oppressor, but he is the father of her children. She is forced to kill her master to free her children, but at great pain to herself
Louis Armstrong
P.8 "I'd like to hear five recordings of Louis Armstrong playing and singing 'What Did I Do to Be so Black and Blue'-all at the same time."
Famous Jazz and Blues musician- "What did I do to be so Black and Blue" Stereotypical Black Performer. Epilogue: Improvisation, bending the bad notes into good notes. Alludes to his style of giving speeches, very jazzy and improvised
Tatlock
leader at the Battle Royale; IM tries to give Tatlock his earnings in exchange for Tatlock fake punching IM, but Tatlock wants to win for himself
Greenwood
IM's hometown. green=inexperience
Grandfather
P.16 "'Son, after I'm gone I want you to keep up the good fight. I never told you, but our life is a war and I have been a traitor all my born days, a spy in the enemy's country ever since I give up my gun back in the Reconstruction. Live with your head in the lion's mouth. I want you to overcome 'em with yeses, undermine 'em with grins, agree 'em to death and destruction, let 'em swoller you till they vomit or bust wide open.'"
"Haunts" IM
P.33 "'To Whom It May Concern,' I intoned. 'Keep This ******-Boy Running.'" at circus scene
Booker T. Washington
Leader, the Atlanta Compromise "cast down your bucket where you are"
Established Tuskegee University (like the college that IM goes to)
Favored gradualism (work w/in the current system, non-violent)
W.E.B. Dubois
Opposed to Booker T. Washington- If you weren't against it, you were supporting it'
Wrote "Soul of Black Folk"
Early works on sociology, essays on race
Talented 10th: if we can get 10% of our educated populace into professions (doctors, lawyers, etc.) it would become self-sustaining & African Americans would be viewed as equal
veil: worn by all African Americans that gives them a different perspective, Double vision: always looking at yourself through the eyes of others
Mr. Norton
Trustee of college
White Rabbit and St.Nick
Oedipus
Mark of Cain—>Gets injured in the head
Connection to Trueblood (both rape daughter)
Gives Trueblood Money to get children toys
"You people are my destiny"-Cog in a machine—> Automaton Motif
The Founder
Never named
Referenced as statue on campus and Booker T. Washington
Barbee speech tried to transfer mythical worship of founder to Bledsoe
Dr. A. Herbert Bledose
Goes against his own race
IM strived to be like him
Is set up as a god-like figure
Alludes to Booker T. Washington
Woodridge
IM's literature teacher at college- portrait of the artist as a young man (create himself- vet), teaches greek plays (fate)
Jim Trueblood
Insestious- Slept with and impregnated his daughter
Mark of Cain- Wife hit him with Axe
Oedipus Rex
Odyssey= Unreliable Character
Freudian Dream
Trueblood- Since his blood now flows through both his children and grandchild they are all truly of his blood
Mr. Broadnax
Appears in Trueblood's dream
Overseer of plantation house- dirty work
White authority figure, wife slashes trueblood w ax when waking up
Kate
Wife of Trueblood
Tries to kill Trueblood for sleeping with daughter, ends up just scaring him
Gives him "mark of cain"; Gets new glasses after they get 'helped'
Can see better- Seeing better doesn't mean you want to
has to live with the fact that her daughter is giving birth to her husband's child
Matty Lou
Trueblood's daughter
Raped by her father
Golden Day
Bar that IM and Norton went into
Where all of the psych patients go
Used to be a church, school house, bank and a jail
Filled with the "dead" veterans- mentally dead
Alludes to the underworld in the Odyssey (need blood to speak—> Beat up supercargo)
Circle of Hell: Lust
Mad Teaparty
Halley
Proprietor/ bartender of the Golden Day
The Vet
Talks about invisibility
"Dance with white women"
Prophet- Allusion to Tiresias
Predicts a lot of the events that will occur in New York
Supercargo
Wears white apron (power)→Wears an all white uniform, stripped of power when he's not wearing it
The one who rangles the Vets
Hester
Prostitute at Golden Day- Lusts over Norton
Scarlet Letter
Lust
"Donkey glands" reference
Old Bucket-head
Dr. Bledsoe's nickname by students at the college from Booker T. Washington "cast down your buckets"
Both didn't want to push for social equality, relished the power, burned down apartment w buckets of kerosine in end
Homer A. Barbee
Blind Preacher
Reference to Homer- Blind Prophet
Black Aristotle
Makes Bledsoe seem god-like
Paints Bledsoe as an apostle
Horatio Alger
Wrote about "mysterious benefactors"
"Rags to riches" stories
Miss Suzy Gresham
chapel scene- IM's speech teacher
taught style over substance
Crenshaw
Vet's escort on the bus to St. Elizabeth
Name is reference to a prison used to hold political prisoners
St. Elizabeth
A psychiatric facility in D.C where the Vet was being taken to
The vet wanted to go there and only after incident w IM did he get granted permission- shows Bledsoe's interference
Not the true north- according to Crenshaw
Men's House
Like a YMCA
The boarding house where IM first stayed at when he arrived to Harlem
Peter Wheatstraw
suggest to IM the special at the diner (a typical southern meal)
An allusion to a jazz singer from that time
describes Harlem as bear's den- reminding of jack the bear and jack the rabbit
Biblical allusion (Special powers given to the seventh son of the seventh son)
Emerson, Jr.
Tells IM the truth about Bledsoe's letters
Gay-Tries to seduce IM
Wants him to go to the Calamus Club with him and his friends
Tries to make IM his valet- Undress him
Sends him to get a job at Liberty Paints
Another one of the people who tell IM to choose a different path (blueprints guy)
Totem & Taboo
Sigmund Freud
"All modern forms of socialization are shaped by the primitive culture of origin"
Book open in Emerson Jr.'s office when IM walks in
Marcus Garvy
Equivalent to Ras in the book
charismatic racial separatist—>advocated black pride and argued against integration with whites
Lucius Brockway
"Necessary evil"
Works in boiler room of Liberty Paint
Reference to Lucifer
Came up with the "White is Right"
Gets into fight IM
Blew up the factory
Liberty Paints
The paint factory where IM gets a job at after the letter incident
Famous for their optic white paint used in a lot of government structures
"Keep America Pure with ____ ____"
Mr. Sparland
Owner of Liberty Paint company
Is supposed to symbolize God
God figure of Liberty Paints
Mr. Kimbro
Factory manager of Liberty Paint
Gets rid of IM with the paint incident (dropped black in white)
Slave Driver
Rudyard Kipling- Kimball -White Man's Burden- extremely racist, enterprise of empire yet gives somber warning about the costs involved; justify imperialism as a noble enterprise of civilization (like Manifest Destiny)
Mr. MacDuffy
Hired IM at Liberty Paints
Assigns IM to Kimbro and then Lucius Brockway (sentencing him to depths of hell)
Factory Hospital
IM wakes up here after the explosion at the paint company
Similar to concentration camp
Subjected to electrocution
Threats of castration
Tuskeegee Placebo Doctors—>Used black patients as lab rats for experimental medical treatments
Unorthodox
Mary Rambo
Urges IM to be a 'credit to the race"- reference to 1st black woman to win an oscar (Hattie McDaniel)
Reference to Black Mumbo/Mammy from Black Sambo
Archetypal Mother (Mothers IM)
Cthonian
Emma is a bartender there
The Brotherhood HQ
Reference to the Underworld- Literally means underworld
Brother Jack
Alludes to Menelaus (Red Hair and Temper) and Odin (Glass Eye, sacrificed it for knowledge)
Leader of Brotherhood
Discovers IM
Led IM-(Anonymous letter and other stuff)
Communism
Single handedly created IM's new persona and life
Emma
Gives IM fake name from breast- rebirth motif
His new mother
Dances with her fulfilling the vets prophecy
Brother Jack's mistress
Initial source IM thought of when infiltrating the brotherhood
A short, broad dunken man
White man at Cthonian
Asks IM to sing- Brotherhood gets offended
Allusion to black people being used for entertainment
"Feed Me Bank"
Black Sambo piggy bank
IM is angered by it and breaks on pipe→Feels guilty about it afterwards→Puts in briefcase= emotional 'baggage'
El Toro Bar
Bullfighting Themed Bar (matador)
Bull and matador represent exploitation of black people
foreshadows fight w Ras- bull wins, could have killed clifton
Meets there with Brother Jack and is told he is the Brotherhood's spokesman
Brother Wrestrum
Wrestrum= Restroom
Full of Shit, Plays dirty
Accuses IM of being a traitor/ individualist - trying to wrest power from him
Interview- Trial- as filed charges against him, accusing him of being an opportunist, revokes the narrator's leadership role
Tells IM his disdain for Tarps shackle, denies any racial tensions in the Brotherhood
Brother Hambro
white, Mentors IM in the ways of the Brotherhood for a couple months
Brother Chairman
Member of committee that's trying to prove IM guilty of being an individualist
Teams up w MacAfree to do it, wants to kick IM out
Brother MacAfree,
Take accusations seriously- protect brotherhood
Member of committee that's trying to prove IM guilty of being an individualist
allusion to McCarthy
Brother Tarp
Former slave- An elderly black man who spent nineteen years in prison for saying "No" to a white man
Gave portrait of frederick douglas
Gives IM the shackle as a good luck charm- mirrors Bledsoe's leg shackle- Walks with limp
Vaguely reminds IM of grandfather→Old but young hearted
Brother Tod Clifton
Christ Figure- Death caused the apocalypse of Harlem
Leader of the Youth Division of the Brotherhood
Shot down in the street
Tod= German for death
IM's best friend—>His death makes IM feel guilty
Traitor- Sold black sambo dolls
Seen as Black and Beautiful by Ras
Brother Tobitt
Tries to get IM kicked out
Thinks he knows what it is like to be black because he is married to "a fine African American girl"
Tobitt= Two bit
Brother Maceo
the missing brother whom the narrator eventually meets at the Jolly Dollar, a Harlem bar and grill
Salt shaker/beer bottle altercation
Jolly Dollar
Bar owned by barrelhouse
IM initially looks for Maceo there
Returns dressed as Rinehart
Barrelhouse
Bartender at Jolly Dollar- reflects halley (owner golden day)
Ras, the Exhorter, the Extorter, the Destroyer
Alludes to Hindu God of Destruction and Rebirth Shiva
Black Extremist
"Black and Beautiful"
Exhorter- uses inspiring words to instigate action
Extorter- actually uses violence to reach goals, holds clifton at knife point
Destroyer- Shiva allusion, giving a speech. Ras denounces the Brotherhood for not following through with the momentum that the funeral sparked
MacAdams
man who gets mad at IM for calling him his brother at the Jolly Dollar
Sambo
Dolls sold by Clifton
Bank at Mary's house
Reference to little Black Sambo children’s book
Ugly black stereotype
She, Hubert's wife
IM meets her at a women's rally
He has sex with her
Husband is "off chasing his lost youth"
Moment of invisibility for IM when husband comes home and they both act like he's not there
Clothesline peddler
P.447 "I sat rigid, as though waiting to hear the explosions again, fighting against the weight that seemed to pull me down. I heard the clothesline peddler's bell...What would I tell the committee when the newspaper accounts were out? To hell with them. How would I explain the dolls? But why should I say anything? What could we do to fight back. That was my worry. The bell tolled again in the yard below."
1st person that IM hears the bell from while planning the funeral for Clifton; Funeral bells symbolize death- Clotheslines link clothes together
Reference to springtime
Clothesline pedlar serves as IM's link back to life
Stephen Daedalus
Portrait of the Artist main character
Stephen's Problem- chp.14-16
Daedalus- built the labyrinth, Icarus' father
B.P. Rinehart
IM confused for and then disguises himself as
Takes on many forms in the community
individualist
Pastor, Lover, Gambler/Numbers Runner, Pimp, Briber
Mask- if you wear it long enough you'll become it
IM tries to imitate him
Rinehartism- Deception
Sybil
george's wife
IM tries to seduce her- ends up taking pity on her
Rape fantasy- sees IM as a sex toy rather than an actual person, Repression/ Nymphomaniac
IM sees her as a person and cares for her
Afraid when he thinks the mannequins are her
One of the first people he truly cares about and sees as a person even though she doesn't see him in the same way
George
Member of brotherhood
Sybil's husband, not interested in brotherhood represent rich men who are not doing anything
Dupree & Scofield
Looters who help IM in the race riot
Shoot back at police
Dupree- Reference to the mad hatter- 3 hats. Leads the burning of the apartment complex.
-Scofield: Helps IM when he's injured, Follower of Dupree
Lottie
Pregnant women in the complex that begs Dupree not to burn down
About to give birth= Anti Christ
Dehart - the heart of the matter
1st to mention term "race riot" which shocks IM- makes him realize
ambivalence
a contradictory emotional or psychological attitude; simultaneous attraction toward and repulsion from an object person or action.
IM EXAMPLE: IM's attitude towards women (i.e. the stripper in the Battle Royale)
ambiguity
actual or potential uncertainty of meaning, esp if a word, phrase, or sentence can be understood in 2 ways (ex. They can fish.)
IM EXAMPLE:
literary ambiguity
7 types identified by critic William Empson:
Reference- metaphoric manipulation
Referent-grammatical running of alternative meanings into one
Intent-author's purpose unclear
Sense-puns, allusions, allegories
Transition-change in perspective of author or character
Contradiction-author confuses as image
Meaning (words like let [allow or hinder] and cleave [split asunder or embrace])
expressionistic
uses emotions rather than realism to express an artistic idea
impressionistic
depiction of scene, emotion, or character by use of detail sometimes brief and essential but often to great intricacy and elaborateness that is intended to achieve a vivid, sensory impression (of mood/atmosphere) rather than by recreating or representing an objective reality
naturalistic
based on natural desires and instincts, often dealing with lower classes
surrealistic
producing fantastic or incongruous imagery in art and literature using unnatural combinations and juxtapositions
picaresque
novel style
1st person narrative
adventures of a rogue or low-born adventurer- drifts from place to place, from one social milieu to another in an effort to survive
foil
serves by contrast, color, or quality to set off another to advantage or disadvantage
satire
human vices, folly, abuses or shortcoming by means of ridicule, derision, burlesque, irony, often with intent for improvement
speech #1
Prologue p.9- metaphorically linked in everyones mind color black is seen as sign of sorrow and doom
Call and response
"'Brothers and sisters, my text this morning if the 'Blackness of Blackness''" p.9
speech #2
Graduation/Battle Royale speech p.29
Similar to Booker T. Washington
Work within the current system
Non-violent
P.31 accidently says social equality instead of responsibility
speech #3
Barbee speech p.118-133
powerful sermon about the Founder, IM emotional, Bledsoe, entrusted with carrying on the Founder's legacy, is nothing like the man Rev. Barbee built him up to be
Lack of call & response w students shows disconnect to black heritage
Resigns IM to accept his punishment and agree that Bledsoe was right
speech #4
Start: P.275 chp.13
Woman is about to be evicted from her home
"'Take it all, hide that junk! Put it back where it came from. It's blocking the street and the sidewalk, and that's against the law. We're law-abiding, so clear the street of the debris. Put it out of sight! Hide it, hide their shame! Hide our shame!'" p.281
Attracts the attention of the Brother Jack and the brotherhood
speech #5
Start: P.341 chp. 16
Baseball call & response- arena, faces a mob
"'Dispossession! Dis-possession is the word!' I went on. 'They've tried to dispossess us of our manhood and womanhood! Of our childhood and adolescence-'" p.342
"'May I confess?...Silence is consent so I'll have it out...I feel your eyes upon me. I hear the pulse of your breathing. And now, at this moment, with you black and white eyes upon me, I feel...I feel , I feel suddenly that I have become more human. Do you understand? More uman. Not that I have become a man, for I was born a man. But that I am more human. I feel strong, I feel able to get things done!'" p.345-346
asking the people to unite to end dispossession, crying
speech #6
Chp. 21 P.454-459
Clifton’s funeral
Uses Clifton's death to fuel the people
sees individuals in the audience while giving it
Says Clifton's name 22 times despite him wanting it to be political and telling the crowd to forget Clifton's name
Marc Antony references in speech (similar to how he made a speech about Julius Caesar and the great power of one ruler/man)
Brotherhood is angry at him for making this speech because he did it on his own without their consent and overview
difference prologue and epilogue
prologue- still bitter and disillusioned, about impossibilities
epilogue- come to understand things and himself better, more maturely optimistic
Brother Garnett
Tries to fight against the other brothers during the trial to defend IM
Note 
Flashcard (35)