Study Questions
1. Is the narrator surprised to see the committee waiting for him?

2. To whom does Brother Jack compare the narrator, as regards tactical ability?

3. What does Brother Tobitt move that the committee do regarding the narrator’s views and remarks?

4. What does Brother Jack remind the narrator that he was not hired to do?

5. With whom does Brother Tobitt say the narrator might be in touch?

6. Midway through the argument with the committee, what does the narrator find and hold tightly in his pocket?

7. Where does Brother Jack put his glass eye the moment it pops out of his head?

8. How does the narrator react to Brother Jack’s glass eye coming out of his head?

9. What word does the narrator use to describe Brother Jack’s look?

10. What does Brother Jack call the narrator, based on the latter’s response to the glass eye?

Answers
1. No, the narrator is not at all surprised to see the committee waiting for him. He is strangely relieved.

2. Brother Jack compares the narrator to Napoleon, when commenting on the former’s knowledge of tactics.

3. Brother Tobitt recommends that the committee issue a pamphlet containing the narrator’s views and remarks. He is being sarcastic, not sincere.

4. Brother Jack reminds the narrator that he was not hired to think.

5. Brother Tobitt says that the narrator is in touch with God, or at least “the black god.” Once again, he is speaking sarcastically.

6. Midway through his argument with the committee, the narrator finds and grips the leg chain from Brother Tarp.

7. The moment Brother Jack’s glass eye pops out of his head, he grabs it in midair and plops it into a glass of water.

8. The narrator reacts to Brother Jack’s glass eye coming out of his head with shock and disgust.

9. The narrator uses the word “Cyclopean,” from the name of the one-eyed ogre in Greek mythology, to describe Brother Jack’s look.

10. Brother Jack, noticing the narrator’s response to his glass eye, calls him a “sentimentalist.”