Summary and Analysis

Summary

When the narrator takes Mr. Norton to the nearest bar, he finds a group of veterans at a nearby mental hospital. The patient also came to Golden Day and the narrator cursed him for his bad luck. One of his patients, posing as the band`s drum major, stopped the narrator's car and pretended to be still in World War II.

The narrator gets over the aggressive drumming major by pretending that Mr. Norton is General Pershing. As a professional, the man acted and spoke strangely to the narrator, asking a bartender named Harry to bring him a double shot of whiskey. The narrator tells Halley that Mr.

Norton is too ill to enter, but Halley still refuses. Upon returning, the narrator discovered Mr Norton had passed out "like a picture with chalk" in his car. Extremely worried, he returned to the bar and asked Halley for help. A patient punched Mr.

Norton was diagnosed with mild hysteria. On Bledsoe recommendation, Mr. Norton dismisses the narrator and orders him to attend chapel that evening. Back in his room, the narrator is interrupted by a freshman who tells him that Bledsoe wants to see him. As the narrator leaves, he feels somewhat reassured by Norton, but apprehensive about his impending meeting with Bledsoe and his mandatory attendance at chapel.

When the narrator returns with ice, the ex-doctor tells him that Mr. Norton will be all right and warned him to avoid activities like that again as it may be fatal next time. .

Analysis

The veterans from the mental asylum are a potent symbol of another group of people that have fallen outside the view of Mr. Norton`s “destiny. ” The veterans are men who served their country in World War II, but who are virtually unrecognized due to their skin color. Between the veterans and Trueblood, Mr.

Norton has discovered a world of black experience that he wasn`t ready to see. All of the speech of the patients has an element of truth to it, a reflection of the old idea that men who seem crazy often have insightful things to say in a fundamentally crazy society. Mr. Norton has been brought to a bar that could not be farther away from his idea of the black community.

The speeches of the mental patients confirm how much of the world lies outside of Mr. Norton`s “destiny. ” Free of any pretensions, the patients seek to destroy the man who controls them. .

Themes

Racism

Power

Self Interest

Invisibility

Identity

Dreams