Summary and Analysis

Summary

Two white men bring a chest of drawers out of a nearby apartment while a group of black men and women stand silently by and an old black woman tearfully calls the narrator`s attention to her helplessness and humiliation. Launching an emotional speech on dispossession, the narrator encourages them to return all the furnishings to the apartment and leads them into the old couple's house to pray. Meanwhile, the police arrive and accuse the narrator of interfering with the eviction, but a white girl helps him escape by suggesting that he run across the apartment rooftops. After narrowly escaping the police, the narrator encounters a man who introduces himself as Brother Jack. After telling the narrator how much he admired his speech at the eviction, Brother Jack invites the narrator to accompany him to a nearby diner. There, Brother Jack invites the narrator to join the Brotherhood.

Analysis

Seeing that the narrator has been emotionally touched by the scene, Brother Jack pretends to empathize with him by comparing the eviction to "a death" and then telling him about Death on the City Pavements, which he describes as "a detective story or something I read somewhere. " In fact, "Death on the City Pavements" is not a detective story, but an allusion to Part 3 of Richard Wright`s 12 Million Black Voices, a pictorial history of black America.

Themes

Racism

Power

Self Interest

Invisibility

Identity

Ambition

Dreams