Summary and Analysis

Summary

The narrator remembers walking to the chapel with other students at dusk. He describes the scene as a dense mixture of sounds and people "moving in a mood of judgment rather than of adoration." When the narrator enters the chapel, his head is confused. In the chapel, the narrator sees a line of silent people and fondly recalls the other night he heard a sermon. He imagines the attendees wearing masks and him playing himself as billionaires handing out millions of dollars. The narrator notes that Chappell's sessions helped create an entire university-centric worldview. The narrator remembers often debating on the chapel stage. He envisions giving a barker "ha!" speech. He imagines trying to reach an elderly lady sitting in the back of the chapel with his series of hollow sounds, seeing her as a link to her past and her founder. On stage, Dr. Bledsoe around the multi-million dollar crowd of donors. The narrator remarks that Bledsoe can touch white men and recalls his own close encounter with Mr. Norton. Bledsoe's lightness is magical. To the students, Bledsoe is even more impressive than a white billionaire, and the narrator tells of Bledsoe's rise from humble beginnings to a black leader and politician. The service begins with a girl singing a cappella in the rafters. Black men on stage other than Ph.D. Bledsoe, later called Reverend Barbie, is a fat, ugly man with black glasses who stands up and speaks. He begins talking about the early days of the university when the founder was still alive. He begins with a lengthy speech describing those "days of great omens." Barbie begins shortly after Emancipation, a time of fear and mistrust between blacks and whites. Barbie said the founder's contributions were well known and "showed the way" to the black community. He likens the founder to Moses, who led the people out of Egypt. Barbee talks about an attempt on the founder's life. While the founder was traveling in the countryside, a strange man appeared and warned him to hide in a nearby hut. The founder ignored him and was soon shot dead by a group of men.

Analysis

As he approaches the Chapel, the narrator points out the beauty of the Quorum but also ponders how the Chapel enables the Quorum community to come together as one tribe, accepting some and Rejecting others...The narrator recognizes how powerful college rhetoric was. College speakers were able to develop the idea that for the Black men and women gathered, college was the center of their entire lives, containing everything they could experience. presents an image to a white donor to continue donating. Memories of the narrator's recent past are already nostalgic. He will never take the stage again and he knows he will never reach his old matron. The relationship with the founder has been severed. In a college context, Dr. Bledsoe is the model for everything a narrator wants to be. For narrators of this era, being able to touch and talk to a white man (like Bledsoe) was the highest possible achievement, and Bledsoe is seen as a character with his own mythology.

Themes

Race and Racism

Identity and Invisibility

Power and Self-Interest

Dreams and the Unconscious

Ambition and Disillusionment