CHAPTER 12

Summary

The narrator faints and collapses on the street. A crowd gathers around him, and a kind woman helps him up and takes him to her home. Her name is Mary, and she offers him a room to rent. He accepts, realizing he can no longer board back at the Men's House. Mary talks incessantly of hope and responsibility. Though her endless talking annoys him, Mary at least treats him live a visible person.

The narrator stays mostly in his room reading books. Since the incident in the paint factory, he has become obsessed with his identity and is stressed by contradictory voices within himself. Something is slowly beginning to change in him, but the only thing obvious to him is his growing anger and resentment. As he walks down the streets, angry words spew involuntarily from his mouth. He finds his passion for making speeches is returning.

Notes

Ironically, as the narrator begins to feel more confused about who he is, he begins to behave more like his earlier, younger self, wanting to make speeches. He is suddenly filled with things to say, conscious of the debate within himself. Now that he has been disillusioned by Dr. Bledsoe, he can begin to question things in a healthy way.

 

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