Quote 46
On his deathbed he called my father to him and said, "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…Learn it to the younguns," he whispered fiercely; then he died. (1.2)
The narrator's grandfather advises compliance as the route to eventually overcoming white-dominated society. His words are a refrain throughout the book; each time it reappears, it is given new meaning.
Quote 47
On my graduation day I delivered an oration in which I showed that humility was the secret, indeed, the very essence of progress. (Not that I believed this – how could I, remember my grandfather? – I only believed that it worked.) It was a great success…It was a triumph for our whole community. (1.3)
At this point in time, the narrator believes that the road to progress is through deception – saying one thing to the white community while secretly believing another.
Quote 48
Damn what he wants…We take these white folks where we want them to go, we show them what we want them to see. Don't you know that? I thought you had some sense. (4.33)
Dr. Bledsoe reprimands the narrator for not manipulating Mr. Norton. It turns out that black people have been deceiving the rich white guys in order to make them feel as though "racial uplift' is occurring.