Blog 8 – 2 quotes

1.”He’d (Father) always thought of himself as progressive. He believed in the perfectibility of the republic. He thought, for instance, there was no reason the Negro could not with proper guidance carry every burden of human achievement. He did not believe in aristocracy except of the individual effort and vision…But the air in this ball park open under the sky smelled like the back room of a saloon. Cigar smoke filled the stadium and, lit by the oblique rays of the afternoon sun, indicated the voluminous cavern of air in which he sat pressed upon as if by a foul universe, with the breathless wind of a ten-thousand-throated chorus in his ears shouting its praise and abuse.” (Page 231)

This long paragraph is a little confusing to me. Personally, I feel it is a comparison between the dream and reality of the American society at that time. Father thought there was no class difference as long as they had the effort and intelligence, which is called “American Dream”. But as he and his son was in the stadium watching baseball. The air, which “shouting its praise and abuse”, is breathless not fresh. People, in reality, don’t have much freedom to achieve their dreams, especially for those who had low social status and race difference.

2.”But now the authorities were embarrassed. The Ford stood as tangible proof of the black man’s grievance… Feeling that they had compromised themselves the Mayor and the Board of Aldermen issued a new series of condemnations of the colored madman and said that to negotiate with him in any way at all, to face him with less than an implacable demand that he surrender himself, would be to invite every renegade and radical and black man in the country to flout the law and spit upon the American flag.” (Page 237)

This paragraph describes the corruption of the government at that time. Even Coalhouse had such a strong proof of this car that had been damaged by the white, the government was still for Conklin. They think Coalhouse flouted the law and if they don’t make him surrendered, more radical and black men will go on strike or other things to threaten their governance. The nature of the government made them do what they thought was right and justice. This is also the reason why Coalhouse turned out to be “mad”. No matter how hard he tried, like before suing or finding a lawyer, the government was already on the opposite side of him. They refused to help him out. That’s the roof of the tragedy.