How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #13
Here within this quiet greenness I possessed the only identity I had ever known, and I was losing it. In this brief moment of passage I became aware of the connection between these lawns and buildings and my hopes and dreams. I wanted to stop the car and talk with Mr. Norton, to beg his pardon for what he had seen; to plead and show him tears, unashamed tears like those of a child before his parent; to denounce all we'd seen and heard; to assure him that far from being like any of the people we had seen, I hated them, that I believed in the principles of the Founder with all my heart and soul, and that I believed in his own goodness and kindness in extending the hand of his benevolence to helping us poor, ignorant people out of the mire and darkness…If only he were not angry with me! If only he would give me another chance! (4.2)
The narrator's college self is incredibly naïve; here he distinguishes himself (in his mind) from the "bad" black people who are poor, uneducated, and commit incest. He desperately believes in the idea of racial uplift through the helping hand of the white man (in this case, that white man would be named Mr. Norton).
Quote #14
For three years I had thought of myself as a man and here with a few words he'd made me as helpless as an infant. (6.82)
Dr. Bledsoe takes away the narrator's feeling of manliness – this is a moment of rebirth.
Quote #15
Play the game, but play it your own way – part of the time at least. Play the game, but raise the ante, my boy. Learn how it operates, learn how you operate – I wish I had time to tell you only a fragment. (7.28)
In other words, the vet tells the narrator to know thyself. Does this passage conflict with, agree with, or complement the grandfather's advice?