Study Questions
1. To whom does the narrator attribute his habit of looking at everything on his desk?

2. Why has the narrator’s Brotherhood poster gotten some of the Brotherhood’s youth members arrested?

3. How long has Brother Tarp had his limp?

4. According to the narrator’s memories, how is Tarp’s chain link different from the one on Bledsoe’s desk, back at the college?

5. What is Brother Wrestrum’s big idea about which he wants to talk with the narrator?

6. In the committee meeting, what does Brother Wrestrum claim that the narrator wants to become?

7. How does the narrator feel while the committee is discussing Wrestrum’s charges?

8. In response to further charges against him, what does the narrator wonder if everyone’s been reading?

9. What is the narrator’s guide for his new lecture assignment?

10. How did the narrator leave Harlem?

Answers
1. The narrator attributes his habit of looking at everything on his desk to Bledsoe.

2. Some of the Brotherhood’s youth members were arrested for covering up advertisements with the posters, in the subway system.

3. Brother Tarp has had his limp for nineteen years, six months and two days.

4. According to the narrator’s memories, the difference between the chain links is that while Bledsoe’s link was smooth, Tarp’s link showed “the marks of haste and violence.”

5. Brother Wrestrum’s big idea that he wants to talk with the narrator about is the need for an emblem, a special pin or button that Brotherhood members can wear and thereby recognize each other.

6. In the committee meeting, Brother Wrestrum claims that the narrator wants to become a dictator.

7. The narrator is “boiling with anger and disgust” as the committee is discussing Wrestrum’s charges.

8. In response to further charges against him, the narrator wonders aloud if everyone has been reading a cartoon strip concerned with plots and schemes of evildoing.

9. The pamphlet “On the Woman Question in the United States,” written by Brother Jack, will be the narrator’s guide for his new lecture assignment.

10. The narrator left Harlem by simply slipping his papers into his briefcase (the same briefcase he was given at the battle royal). He left as though going downtown to a meeting.