A Different Drummer

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KELLEY'S A DIFFERENT DRUMMER Notes including • Life and Background of the Author • List of Characters • Critical Commentaries • Character Analyses • Critical Essays • Essay Topics and Review Questions • Selected Bibliography

by Nathan Garner Black Literature Editor Scholastic Magazine

LINCOLN, NEBRASKA 68501 1-800-228-4078 www.CLIFFS.com ISBN 0-8220-7268-8 © Copyright 1973 by Cliffs Notes, Inc. All Rights Reserved

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LIFE AND BACKGROUND OF THE AUTHOR Like many young men, William Melvin Kelley's ideas about who he is and what America is all about have undergone major changes. For many years, he was, in his own words, an "assimilated student." He was educated at Fieldston, a private school in New York City, and, later, he attended Harvard University. In 1963, he published the well-known Esquire article "The Ivy League Negro." Of this type of black student, he said that the Ivy League Negro and, in general, most educated or upper-class Negroes, have an ambiguous attitude toward the uneducated, lower-class Negro; these Ivy League types are torn by a disdain and a deep love for the "diddy-bop" and the "jungle bunny"--that is, the lower-class black man and woman. "With one breath," Kelley said, "the Ivy League Negro will ridicule him [the lower-class black] for his lack of taste, the flashing and revealing clothes, and his 'dese, deys, dems, and doses,' and with his next breath, he will envy him for his apparent love of life, his woman's Africanesque or exotic beauty, and, believe it or not, his rough-and-ready sexuality." In short, Kelley was saying that in an unconscious effort to become completely integrated into American life, the Ivy League Negro adopts and accepts the stereotypes and prejudices of mainstream America--including color prejudice. Since then, Kelley has changed. His tone is more fierce, and, as a result, he is regarded as one of the socalled militant black writers. He has remarked, "I think of myself, at least formerly, as one of the most integrated people that society produced. And because I was one of the most integrated, I was one of the most messed up, mentally, and one of the most brainwashed." He is very much concerned with the development of a separate literature for black people, a literature based on African traditions, including black music and folk culture. In 1967, Kelley and his family left the United States for France, saying that he left not because he loved the French people so much, but because he wanted to learn to speak French. (Many African nations, it is important to note, are French speaking.) Kelley also said that he wanted to write books that black people could understand, books that "really express African experience. The older black writers have been talking mainly to the white man. Some of us, the younger ones, want very much to talk to black people." As an example of what Kelley is attempting, his novel Dunfords Travels Everywheres, published in the fall of 1970, is valuable. The narrative uses a phonetically rendered version of black speech and the characters move between life and death, as well as across centuries. In addition to Dunfords, Kelley has published other novels--dem (1967), A Drop of Patience (1965), and A Different Drummer (1962)--and a collection of short stories, Dancers on the Shore. He is judged by many critics to be one of the most promising novelists. He has won the Dana Reed Literary Prize, the Rosenthal Foundation Award of the National Institute of Arts and Letters, and has taught literature at the New School for Social Research and at Bard College.

LIST OF CHARACTERS Tucker Caliban The protagonist; although he says little, it is through his various relationships with the other characters that we get to know him and understand the revolution that he precipitates.

Mister Harper The wise and knowing old man who represents the Old South.

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Harry Leland The white liberal who does not feel the necessity to change his life style, but he does want his son to recognize that change is inevitable for the future of the South.

Mister Leland The eight-year-old son of Harry Leland. He provides the reader with important insights into the character of Tucker Caliban.

General Dewey Willson General Willson never appears in the novel, but his influence is felt. It was this man who named Caliban and who established the bond between the Willsons and the Calibans.

The African Like General Willson, the African never appears in the novel, but because of his relationship to Tucker Caliban, he affects all of the other characters.

Auctioneer's Negro A black man who is torn by the desire to be an American and yet remain true to his African heritage.

Dymphna Willson The daughter of David and Camille Willson.

Dewitt Willson He purchased the African, the grandfather clock, and the African's young son.

Bethrah Caliban Tucker's wife; she attended college and hopes for better things than the South can offer herself and her family.

Dewey Willson III The youngest descendant of General Willson.

David Willson The present custodian of the Willson lands. As a student at Harvard, he had ideas about changing the South, but he gave them up eventually and found himself playing out the predetermined role of the southern landed gentry.

Reverend Bennett T. Bradshaw Like David Willson, Bradshaw was educated at Harvard and had plans for changing the conditions of his people, but the blacks passed him by. Bradshaw cannot understand how such an uneducated man as Tucker can accomplish the very thing that Bradshaw attempted to do all his life.

Camille Willson David's wife. When her marriage began to crumble, she listened to Tucker's advice; Tucker was nine years old at the time.

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Stewart He sits on the porch each day; it is Stewart who brings the news about Tucker's salting his land.

Loomis He doubts that the African has anything to do with the events of the past few days. Like the other men who sit on the porch, he respects Mister Harper, but because Loomis spent three weeks at college, he can't accept the theory about the African's influence on Tucker.

Bobby-Joe McCollum The youngest member of the group of men who sit on the porch. It is his interpretation of the black exodus that leads to Bradshaw's death.

Wallace Bedlow A black resident of the town; he watched Tucker salt his land, and it is he who is the first person to leave Sutton after the Calibans depart.

Walter Leland The younger brother of Mister Leland.

Marge Leland Harry Leland's wife.

John Caliban Tucker's grandfather; he worked for the Willsons all of his life. He dies on a bus while returning to the Willson farm.

Missus Caliban The faithful house-servant of the Willsons; Tucker's mother.

Miss Rickett A woman with a reputation for lusty sexual desires.

Thomason The proprietor of the grocery store where some of the men of the town congregate every day.

Mister Harper's Daughter A spinster of fifty-five; it is her duty to push her father in his wheelchair.

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CRITICAL COMMENTARIES THE STATE Kelley opens the novel with a short description of an imaginary southern state, including an early history of Dewey Willson and a brief paragraph devoted to recent history, noting the exodus in June 1957 of all the blacks in the state. Although the state is imaginary, it is very much like many of the southern states, its history extending back into the slavery era. By using an imaginary state, Kelley removed the novel from being the story of a particular area; instead, he created a fable which describes a certain type of society and the people within it. The state, thus, is a symbol of the entire South, and the legends, mores, and traditions recorded by Kelley in this novel can be found, with variations, in any of the former Confederate states. In this section, Kelley introduces one of the main themes of the novel: the importance of family history and tradition to the South. He tells us of Confederate General Dewey Willson, who prevented northern troops from reaching New Marsails. The General is Kelley's symbol of the white southern gentleman. In addition, Kelley shows us the frustration of northern attempts to invade the area; this can also be viewed as a symbol, a symbol of the frustration of the many attempts to bring more enlightened views to race relations and to the structure of the economy. Essentially, this state--the South--is still run by the same types of men--in the same way--a century after the Civil War has ended. Later in the novel, in a conversation with David Willson concerning the purchase of the farm, Tucker Caliban notes that as long as people refuse to change, there can be no change in conditions. Both Tucker and David realize this fact, but only Tucker is eventually able to change and act effectively.

THE AFRICAN The quotation from which the title of this novel is taken has immediate significance because the men on the porch are trying to understand Tucker Caliban's salting his land, killing his livestock, burning his home, and leaving the state. Obviously, Caliban has heard a different drummer; these are not the kinds of things that are in step with the actions of the other black men in the community. Tucker, it seems, believes in ideas quite different from those people who believe that they have sure solutions for the racial problems of the South. Besides arousing our curiosity about Caliban, Kelley also tells us in this chapter more about Dewey Willson, a Confederate general. Willson is, as it were, the representative of the southern white men of the state, known primarily because of his ability to keep northern forces from penetrating the area. Symbolically, Willson is used to show the effective resistance of the white South to the idea of the brotherhood of all men. Dewey Willson's effectiveness, thus, is not only because of his military exploits but, more important, because of his long resistance to change. In this imaginary southern state, there are two "giants" pitted against one another. We have already met one of them: General Willson, who died just after a ten-foot statue of himself was dedicated. The General lives in legend as, after Lee, the Confederacy's greatest military leader. The other giant is black. He is simply called the African, a huge and powerful man; he was brought to American shores but refused to become an American slave. This giant symbolizes the strong, freedomloving blacks who survived the passage to America. These people never succumbed to the system which attempted to dehumanize them; they resisted it until their deaths. The African fights the system but is finally slain by Dewitt Willson, the father of the General.

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The tale of the African begins with the arrival of a slave ship in New Marsails. The sailors bear the scars of several slave rebellions, led by the African, and the captain insists that the African be kept away from the other slaves even after he is taken off the ship. The auction is attended by all the townspeople because the arrival of a slave ship is a major event. The auctioneer has a black assistant who, because he has the same features, mannerisms, and way of dress as the auctioneer, might be the auctioneer's son. The description of the African is exaggerated here, as in all tall tales. His size, strength, and cunning are much beyond that of ordinary men. His bearing is regal, and the captain notes that the African is a chief. Dewitt Willson, who came to the boat to accept delivery of a grandfather clock, sees the African and immediately decides to buy him--and break him. Dewitt pays a thousand dollars in cash for the African and for the baby he carries under his arm. But the moment that the transaction is completed, the African escapes, with the aid of the auctioneer's black assistant. Then, as the legend goes, Dewitt chased the African through the country for several weeks, was unsuccessful, and became seriously ill. Before long, the African began to free slaves on the plantations. Dewitt offered a thousand-dollar reward for the capture of the African, and, with several white men, he again set out to capture him. One evening, the auctioneer's black assistant walked into Dewitt's camp and offered to lead the white men to the African if he were guaranteed the thousand-dollar reward. The legend describes Dewitt's sadness at having to capture the African through betrayal rather than after a fair fight. Most of all, Dewitt wanted to capture the African alive and bring him under his control; in this way, he could strongly affirm his manhood. At the moment of confrontation, Dewitt and the African stared into each other's eyes, and, finally, the African conceded defeat with a slight bow. Dewitt understood that he could never conquer the African; he would have to shoot and kill him. Just before his death, the African attempted to kill the baby, but Dewitt managed to save the child and took him back to the farm. The child was named Caliban by young Dewey, and the relationship between the two families--the two races--begins. Like the giant statue of the General, the saga of the African is a symbol of an entire society. The heritage of the African, however, was nearly dormant while the spiritual descendants of the General controlled southern society; yet beneath the surface, the African represented to the blacks the strength of the black man who would rather die than be a slave. (There is a southern spiritual, revived and adapted during the civil rights movement, which includes the line, "And before I'll be a slave, I'll be buried in my grave, and go home to my God and be free.") No one knows how many hundreds of slaves killed themselves, or were lynched, after unsuccessful attempts to escape from southern plantations. By and large, however, because of this heritage of violent white reprisal, most blacks remained quiet, as did the Calibans until Tucker's act of renunciation. The African's pride and his uncompromising need for freedom remained in the nature of the Calibans. This is Tucker's African heritage, and its symbol is the small white stone which Dewitt Willson picked up after killing the African. The stone was being used as part of a spiritual or religious ritual, performed by the African when the white men surrounded him; it was given to Tucker by David Willson when Tucker bought the farm. Perhaps one of the most dominant ideas in this novel is the Emersonian idea of individuality: As expressed by Tucker, it means simply that a man must free himself. But besides individuality, Kelley develops other ideas: (1) blacks and whites are almost inseparably tied to one another; (2) black people have a profound effect on the lives of white people in the South; and (3) it is necessary for blacks, rather than whites, to take the steps needed to change the racist structure of society.

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The African, upon whom much of this story is dependent, represents all of those strong-willed black men who were brought to America but who refused to accept themselves as slaves. An important contrast is made with the auctioneer's Negro. This young black man imitates his white master's style to perfection, even his way of dressing. He has no principles; he proudly states that he is an American--that is, he "goes with the winner" (first, with the African; then, with Dewitt). The actions of the auctioneer's Negro are significant for still another reason. He is of African descent and knows that regardless of his ability to imitate white culture, he is basically a black man and a slave; he is unable to resolve the dilemma of being an African and also an American. For centuries, the dilemma has plagued black people in America. This duality is shown when the auctioneer's Negro joins the African's raiding band. He dresses in African garb, symbolizing his allegiance to his homeland, but he retains his green derby, a symbol of the capitalist American system (green here represents money). He later betrays the African for the reward, again valuing money more than the elusive ideal of liberation. Dewitt Willson becomes involved with the Calibans through the grandfather clock that he was to pick up the day that the African was brought in. This clock becomes a symbol of the ties between the two families. It was imported from Europe by the Willsons and, after some years, is given to the Calibans. This gift cements the ties of the Caliban (black) and the Willson (white) families. It also symbolizes the Western European culture which has been forced on the Calibans by their white masters. Dewitt Willson's enslavement of the African's baby and of the subsequent generations of people who became known as Calibans (primitive man) is symbolic of the ties between the blacks and whites in the novel. The General, at the age of twelve, named the African's baby Caliban after reading Shakespeare's Tempest. (In Shakespeare's play, Caliban is a primitive, enslaved man whose elemental human nature is superior to "civilized" human nature.) Thus in this section, Kelley has established two kinds of bonds: that of the Willsons and the Calibans, and that of Tucker and his heritage from the African. The legend functions as a story within a story and furnishes the reader with a historical basis from which to interpret the rest of the novel. In addition, the legend adds another dimension to the theme that all people innately desire freedom but must achieve it on their own terms. Although many years have elapsed since the Emancipation, neither the Calibans nor the Willsons have really been emancipated. The Calibans continue to serve the Willsons until Tucker's historic action, and the younger Willsons are still tied to a way of life they don't want. This entangling of the lives of blacks and whites in the South is, thus, not limited to the slave-master relationship, but rather with many of the social, economic, political, and cultural aspects of the affairs of both blacks and whites. This theme has been successfully dealt with by two black playwrights--Douglas Turner Ward in his Day of Absence and by Ossie Davis in his Purlie Victorious. It has been an underlying theme in the work of many American novelists, including Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, and William Faulkner. Returning to the narrative proper of this section, note that the action begins as the men on the porch are trying to make sense of the past few days. During these days, Tucker Caliban salted his land, destroyed his property, and left the state. After that, all of the other black residents began to leave. The men on the porch, representatives of southern society, are contemplating a state without blacks. The major part of their waking hours is devoted to the political and economic meaning of this exodus. The salting of the land by Tucker is recognized as the most serious thing to happen in thirty years, according to Mister Harper, the elder statesman of the group. Harper took to his wheelchair some thirty years before and has not had anything important enough to get him out of it until the Thursday he decided to get a firsthand look at Tucker's farm. Mister Harper points out that Tucker has started a revolution. Of course, Mister Harper is assumed to be an authority because revolution was one of the things that he studied at West Point.

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Harper tells the story of the strength of the African and his resistance to enslavement, and Tucker's actions are then equated with the violent, physical acts of the African. It is clear that Tucker, the descendant of the African, represents those blacks who have yet to make a place for themselves as free men. His emancipatory act is, in a sense, no less legendary, for he too resists the system which tries to dehumanize him. It is a different type of resistance, however, characterized by less violence towards other men. The large head on his small body seems to emphasize the fact that his actions are those of the mind instead of the body. Tucker knew intuitively that the time had come for him to take his life into his own hands and make a break with the past. In contrast, the African's main effort was to free slaves physically and remove them from the control of their white masters. Caliban's acts free only himself; other blacks are free to follow, but there is no effort made to convince them to do so. This type of action--personal, almost introverted--relates to the situation of blacks in America. For many, the move towards freedom takes place in the mind as blacks begin to see themselves in a more positive light. This, too, is a revolution. The reader should note the importance of the final dialogue between Bobby-Joe and Thomason. BobbyJoe refuses to believe that Tucker's acts are tied to his heritage of pride from the African. He hints that Tucker's acts must have been influenced by someone else. His attitude is like that of many whites who believe that the entire civil rights movement, the rebellions in Watts, Detroit, Baltimore, and other cities, and the teachings of revolutionaries like H. Rap Brown, Stokely Carmichael, and Angela Davis are all inspired by Communists or other outside agitators. The reports of presidential commissions in the 1950s and 1960s (and by other study groups set up throughout the twentieth century after violent acts by large numbers of blacks) confirm, however, that the major cause of racial conflict is that blacks are forced to revolt, to resist actively, the destructive effects of white racism. Thus, Kelley places at the bottom of society those whites who maintain that blacks cannot act from their own perception of the racism that oppresses them. Note especially that the reader is introduced to BobbyJoe, the prime advocate of this position, sitting with his feet in the gutter. Symbolically, he is the trash of white society.

HARRY LELAND In this third chapter, the reader is introduced to Harry Leland and is given the first hint that this particular day is going to be different from most. Harry, we learn, is a principled man but, like everyone, has his weaknesses. One such weakness is quickly apparent. Marge Leland, his wife, has told him to visit the ailing Miss Rickett, but Harry does not go; he sends his son instead. His shirking of responsibility continues throughout the chapter. He sees his mistakes but is unable to correct them. His son, who sees things as either right or wrong, understands his father and decides that the responsibilities of a man are larger and worse than those of a boy. When Mister Leland (Harold) refers to Tucker as a "good nigger," Harry, who is trying to "raise the boy right," does not reprimand his son immediately because Harry is in the company of Thomason. Harry is very much aware of group pressure, although he may not agree with their attitudes, and he is not willing to oppose his friends on matters of race. At lunch, when Harry and his son are alone, he lectures him about using the word "nigger." Harry realizes that things in the South will not remain the same, and it is this that he tries to explain to his son. He points out to Harold that someday he will have to get along with all kinds of people--something which older people are not able to do at present. It is important that the reader recognize that some of the most significant events of the novel take place in this chapter. Kelley selected Harry Leland to say some of the most important things because he is most aware of the changes that will come to the South. The events could have been related by Mister Harper, who seems to be the most important white character in the novel thus far--according to most of the white

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people of the town. But Harper is an old man and is used as a mouthpiece for the old ideas of the white South. Mr. Harper functions as a transmitter of southern culture. His mind is a repository of the history, legends, and other memories which sustain this culture. Since the South was, and is, a society which identifies very strongly with its past, it is Mr. Harper who relates the legend of the African. The other men on the porch were hoping to find in the story an acceptable explanation of an unreasonable event. They, like Bobby-Joe, find it hard to believe or even understand how black people have found the initiative to leave the state. The whites are dumbfounded; "their" blacks have no right leaving the place they "belong in." Again, the paternalistic and proprietary air of the white southerner is exposed. The idea of slavery is a century old, but, to the whites, blacks are not yet men who are able to think independent of the white man. The old ideas, however, are dying--through the efforts, here, of Harry, educating his son so that he can adjust to the changing society. It is also apparent that the old ideas are dying when Mister Leland rejects any association with Mister Harper because of the old man's age. Both young Harold Leland and old Mister Harper are addressed as "Mister." This is a title of respect which signifies that Harper's position in the culture will not be taken by any of the men on the porch, but that it will be taken, eventually, by Mr. Leland. One of the most interesting symbols in this novel is Mr. Harper and his wheelchair. Mister Harper, like the South, is crippled; he has retired to a wheelchair, and, in this position, neither he nor the South can move very far or progress very rapidly. This wheelchair situation has existed for some time. After the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, and World War I, racial conditions in the South have been static; nothing much changed--until 1957. And even then, it was only momentarily. That change was caused by blacks. The Supreme Court ordered school desegregation in 1954, and by 1957, the date of the migration from this imaginary state, the South had begun to move. But that slight movement had already ceased, for enforcement of the law did not follow. Returning to Harry Leland and his son, note that Kelley describes the usual routine of the men on the porch as they gather each morning to talk the day away. During the morning, the driver of a truck loaded with rock salt stops and asks the men for directions to Tucker Caliban's farm. The men speculate about why Tucker ordered the rock salt, and Thomason asserts that Tucker is "evil," meaning difficult to get along with. Too often, whites, especially those from the South, tend to dislike and mistrust those blacks who show any independence or who do not seem perfectly content with the status quo. This is the earliest hint we have that Tucker may have inherited some of the proud nature of the African. Harry, in his struggle to be decent and fair-minded, realizes that the status of racial relations is somehow askew. He is a strong contrast to David Willson, an articulate but ineffectual liberal. Harry represents the grass roots of southern society, and he and his fellow southerners must change within themselves. David, who is considered somewhat of an outsider by these whites, cannot impose a reformed way of thinking. The situation of the whites is analagous to that of Tucker and the other black people in the area who found their own way without the help of Bradshaw and other black "leaders." Mister Harper arrives as the men finish their drinks and the group gathers on the porch. The day passes in ideal conversation, with no excitement, until Stewart drives his wagon into town at breakneck speed. Here, Kelley uses an interesting image to describe the man's frantic pace. Stewart looks as if he were being chased by "ghosts or a thousand angry Negroes." The use of the word "ghosts" is a clever play on the word "spook," a black slang term. The "thousand angry Negroes" refers to revenge by blacks for the many years of abuse and suffering under white domination. Many whites have a fear of black rebellions, and in many rural and urban areas where blacks are close to being a majority, the fear is a very real one. Unlike other countries with oppressed or colonized minorities, however, the United States has never experienced a full-scale rebellion by abused minority groups. Yet the fear of such a rebellion remains

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deep within the consciousness of those groups in power. The image of Stewart being chased by a black mob heightens the significance of what could have been an ordinary reference to a fear of mob action. Stewart's frantic arrival is scoffed at by Harry and the men, but Mister Harper is poised, tensely awaiting Stewart's news. Stewart tells of seeing Tucker salting his land, and Mister Harper immediately tells the men to put him on the wagon and take him to the farm. This is Mister Harper's first time out of his chair, and Harry tells his son that perhaps Mister Harper has finally found something important enough to cause him to move. Many of the townspeople follow the wagon out of town, mesmerized by the sight of Mister Harper out of his chair. As the whites pass the black section, many of the town's black residents form their own group and follow the whites out of town. Now we see Tucker Caliban for the first time in the novel. Stewart announces that Caliban has gone crazy, but it is Harry Leland who makes the reader understand that Tucker acts as if he were doing something as ordinary as planting seed; he is not acting out of anger at the land's poverty. Obviously, Tucker Caliban is no ordinary man. He, like Mister Harper, is accorded much respect. Evidence of this is provided by Mister Harper. The old man calls to Tucker very softly, using a far different tone than he would call to any of the men who sit on Thomason's porch or, for that matter, any of the blacks in the town. When Tucker does not answer, Harper respects his silence and just watches him. He makes the point to Stewart that once Tucker Caliban has started something, no one can stop him. Mister Harper walks to the edge of the field with the help of Harry and Thomason. The group silently watches Tucker salt his land. Mister Harper eventually speaks to him, but Tucker ignores all the men. And after he has salted his fields, Tucker kills all of his livestock and then destroys the grandfather clock which came on the same ship as the African. Wallace Bedlow, a black man, offers to help move the clock, but Bethrah refuses his help. She insists that she and her husband must do it themselves. It is significant that the only person who is allowed to help Tucker is his wife, who is several months pregnant. The bond between this man and woman is the truest and deepest of ties; even the offer of help from another black person is rejected. This cohesive family unit echoes the concern of the African for his child. Bethrah also introduces the idea of individualism, which motivates Tucker and which is developed later. Tucker's destruction of the land, his livestock, his home, and the grandfather clock severs all of the ties he has had with the Willsons and the South. One should observe that the instrument he uses for the destruction of his land is white: his land is whitened, signifying the destructiveness of white. Tucker also cuts down the tree which marked the boundary of the Willson Plantation. It is a tree that has witnessed the days of slavery and the South in its glory, and Tucker now destroys it. As it falls, it sounds another fall, the eventual fall of the old racist ideas of the South. Stewart continues to insist that Tucker is crazy, but Harry makes the reader understand that the land belongs to Tucker and that he can do with it whatever he wishes. The idea of Tucker's being "crazy" is important here because throughout the history of black people in America, whites have very often asserted that those blacks who did not acquiesce to the oppressive system of slavery were crazy. The grandfather clock, which was given to First Caliban because of his service to the Willson family, has remained in that family until Tucker destroys it. This clock is another symbol of the bond between the two families, and, like the other ties, Tucker destroys this one also. The clock is also a symbol of the Europeanization of the Calibans. The clock and the African arrived on the same ship, yet little trace of the African's culture remains. His children have helped build the South, yet their dignity, their freedom, and

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their culture have been taken from them. As Tucker smashes the clock, he smashes much more than the bond between two families. He also shatters the cultural dependence of blacks on whites. In this chapter, besides Tucker, we also see Bethrah Caliban. She, together with her baby, represents the future generations of black people who will not be tied to whites and the South. The present generation has now begun to break those chains--in ways undreamed of by their grandparents and great-grandparents. Wallace Bedlow is also introduced in this chapter. Bedlow, the leader of the local black community, is unable to understand the action that Tucker is taking. As a result, he pokes fun at Caliban, and his followers laugh. For the present, Bedlow leads the laughter, but shortly afterwards he will be following the path began by Caliban. It is at the close of the chapter that Harry Leland sees Tucker talking with Mr. Leland. The significance in this lies in the fact that Caliban would not talk to any of the adults--black or white--but he does talk to young Mister Leland. This suggests the possibility that there is hope for the new generation. His children will be a part of that generation, and he is taking steps to help secure their future.

MISTER LELAND Mister Leland--that is, Harold--recalls a morning during the previous summer when Tucker bought him a bag of peanuts at Thomason's store. As Tucker gave the boy the bag, he told him that he was aware of how Harry was trying to raise him. Mister Leland did not, at first, understand what Tucker was talking about and was confused by Tucker's brusque manner. Here, Mister Leland reveals an important idea of this novel: People's appearances often belie their actual feelings. Later, Harry Leland explained what Tucker was referring to. Harry has been trying to raise his son to be a "passable human being." Harry Leland has realized that there is something wrong with the people in his community; he wants to raise his son differently. Because of this episode, Mister Leland considers that he and Tucker became friends. Therefore, as the boy watches Tucker burn his house, he is upset that the men are calling his friend crazy and evil. As Bethrah and Tucker leave, the boy runs after them and tries to get an explanation for their strange behavior. Tucker's answer, however, only confuses the boy more; he simply asks him if he has ever lost anything. Mister Leland does not understand Tucker, but, actually, Tucker's reply to the boy is a most concise explanation of his actions. Tucker and, by implication, all the previous generations of black people have lost many things: dignity, heritage, and selfhood. And they lost these rights to be human by not seizing their freedom long ago. The next day, when Wallace Bedlow appears with a suitcase in his hand and stands waiting for a bus, he is questioned by Harry. Harry asks Wallace a few casual questions, but the conversation takes on a threatening overtone as Wallace reveals that he is leaving for good. Tense black-white relations crackle in this brief conversation. Harold notices that the older black man calls Harry "Sir." When Bedlow becomes loud and tells the white men that he will not return, that he is going North, he is challenging the southern paternal attitude of "owning" black men. The white men's failure to challenge Bedlow indicates that they accept their helplessness. More blacks come to the bus stop and silently board when the bus arrives. The black people seem absorbed in deep thought. The author describes them as acting as if the white people do not exist. As a matter of fact, they do not exist--in the minds of the black people. The blacks have ceased relating to the southern whites.

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As the day wears on and more blacks leave Sutton, the white residents become increasingly curious. Some whites even have the naiveté to ask why the blacks are leaving, a situation which proves the extent to which whites believe that blacks are happy in their situation. This is undoubtedly very much like the initial reaction of whites when the civil rights movement of the 1960s got underway. Whites, in both the North and South, questioned the justification of the movement; they believed blacks had no legitimate grievances. This point certainly has relevance for the present situation because the word "why" continues to follow the actions of blacks. Why the riots? Why Black Power? Why so much talk of black nationalism, revolution, and civil war? Kelley's ability as a writer is evident in the way he handles abstract ideas that are important for Mister Leland to understand. The use of analogies by both Mister Leland and Harry Leland makes many points clear. Mister Leland is a successful character because he understands difficult concepts not through the adult eyes of his father but by applying information gotten from Harry to situations which he himself has actually experienced. When Reverend Bradshaw comes to Sutton, several new ideas are introduced. Bradshaw comes as a representative of the Resurrected Church of the Black Jesus Christ of America, Inc. and, on his watch chain, dangles a golden cross with a figure of Christ on it. (Later, Bradshaw will see himself as a symbolic sacrificed lamb and will submit to being "crucified.") The cross, in black literature, besides being a symbol of Christianity, is also a symbol of persecution, vandalism, and violence inflicted on black people in America. The cross is the symbol of the Ku Klux Klan and other right-wing racist groups. This cross spreads fear and death, so we are forewarned that Bradshaw will be associated with an act of violence. In fact, his death later in the novel will be at the hands of a mob of lawless whites. Even though Bradshaw thinks of himself as a man of the people, we should be quick to discern that he is a part of the same system that produced the Willson family. Unlike the other black characters, Bradshaw acts without regard to the protocol established for blacks in the South. He does not use "Sir" when addressing white men. He has the affluence seen only in such white families as the Willsons. There is shiny chrome all over his car, and the big cross he wears is golden and is attached to a gold chain. His wallet is fat. He has a chauffeur, and his sun glasses have gold rims. Like the auctioneer's Negro, this man has a vested interest in the capitalistic system and the status quo. The irony of it is that he is characterized as a black "leader." Someone with such a well-established interest in the system is not going to attempt to change it radically, if at all. This character, although less well developed, should be compared with David Willson. Willson (white) and Bradshaw (black) were both students at Harvard (an Establishment symbol), and they, in college, pledged to make their society a better place in which to live. Yet their idealism is destroyed by the desire to gain and hold the rewards of the system for themselves. As reformers, they are both ineffectual. As Bradshaw begins to address Mister Leland, this young boy--a symbol of change and newness--makes a significant point--that is, all blacks seem to live much better in the North. This is a myth which has been believed for too long merely because those blacks going South have arrived in big cars and fine clothes-things that most southern blacks do not have. These blacks do not know that life in the urban North is, at least, as hard and demanding as in the South. The dehumanizing, tragic side of the black northern experience can be found in many black novels. Most notable among them is William Attaway's Blood on the Forge, Ann Petry's The Street, and Richard Wright's Native Son. When Bradshaw addresses Mister Leland and gives him five dollars, he recognizes that this boy is the representative of a new generation of people who will be more humane. He senses that this boy will not be a representative of the kind of society in which blacks are treated with little or no respect and dignity. Ample evidence of this is presented whenever Mister Leland talks about black people. He almost always starts to say "niggers," then changes to the more polite "Negroes." And perhaps it should be pointed out

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now that Harry Leland's concern about raising Mister Leland to be a "passable human being" is not entirely based on feeling a need for greater humanity among whites, but because he foresees changes in the South when one will have to be more tolerant. Bradshaw's disdain for the Old South is shown by his ignoring the older men on the porch. By doing this, he invites trouble--as is revealed by the threatening remarks of Billy-Joe. The men on the porch are envious and resentful of the black man's obvious success. His ignoring them incenses them further. When Bradshaw attempts to reconstruct the events of the previous day--with the help of Mister Leland -we discover two things: the contempt that he has for the black masses and the fact that he is aware of the "ways of white folks." His contempt is seen when he is told about the destruction of the grandfather clock. Bradshaw's statement indicates that he has been assimilated into white culture, including their prejudices and their jargon when talking about black people. Kelley's article "The Ivy League Negro" deals with these attitudes which characterize the brainwashed "educated" Negro. Bradshaw, like the Ivy League Negro whom Kelley cited in his article, is Harvard educated. Kelley, of course, has knowledge about this subject because he attended Harvard--but he dropped out before being completely brainwashed. Concerning the destruction of the grandfather clock, Bradshaw remarks, "Isn't that gloriously primitive!" Later in the chapter, Mister Harper agrees with that statement. Bradshaw uses white language in a patronizing way in his reaction to Tucker's action; Tucker, however, is indeed acting in a "primitive" manner since primitive man often dealt with abstract ideas by creating tangible symbols for them. Thus, through the destruction of the clock, Tucker destroys the ties of his family to the Willsons and, on another level, the ties of black people to European culture. His act is akin to the primitivism of his ancestor, the African. It is significant that Tucker receives a primitive symbol from David Willson, the white stone used by the African before he was killed. Bradshaw, like many educated people, has forgotten that humanity deals with abstract ideas through symbols. The only reason that he takes Tucker's act seriously is because the blacks of the area are following Tucker's example. Like the whites whom he is trying to imitate, Bradshaw has come to believe that even the first step toward freedom should be taken through a complicated and slow process. Tucker's act attacks the psychological dependence of blacks on whites with an emotional, rather than a purely logical, act. The white stone which passed from the African, the last free Caliban, to Tucker is a tangible, ritualistic African symbol which has emotional significance to Tucker. Tucker, in receiving the stone, receives a symbol of his true heritage. When Mister Leland hedges as he is telling Bradshaw about his conversation with Tucker, Bradshaw demonstrates his competence in handling white people. He is aware of the fact that an "uppity nigger"--as he is called-- cannot get the information he wants, so he uses the language that Mister Leland is accustomed to hearing from blacks. It is not surprising, then, that young Leland readily repeats his conversation with Tucker. After Bradshaw's attempt at explaining Tucker's statement about losing something, Mister Leland tries to make sense of Bradshaw's comment. Although Mister Leland does not discover what Tucker has lost (his manhood), he does figure out how one can lose something he has never had and decides that maybe that's what happened to Tucker. Bradshaw tells the boy that when he is older, he will understand Tucker's statement and his action. As Bradshaw drops off the boy in town, he shakes hands with him. Harold notices that the minister's hands are soft, like a woman's. Bradshaw's physical softness is more proof that he is not a product of the working class, which he claims to lead. In the meeting between Dewey Willson and Harold and his younger brother, Walter, Harold again tells the story of Tucker's destruction of his farm. But he feels that Dewey does not believe him and that

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Dewey may be a little off-balance. However, when his little brother jumps to the conclusion that Dewey is crazy, Harold resists the idea and remembers that people are not always what they appear to be. He remembers too that Tucker seemed crazy but that he had a good reason for his actions. Harold is beginning to show some signs of growing up. He realizes that he is too young to understand some things, but he is also aware that some facts which he understands, his younger brother is still too young to comprehend.

ONE LONG AGO AUTUMN BIRTHDAY Kelley, in the five short pages that comprise the flashback chapter, focuses on several key points concerning race relations in the United States. Through Dewey Willson, on the morning of his tenth birthday, we see the "place" of the black in American society. Once Dewey discovers that he has received a new bicycle for his birthday, he begins to search for Tucker so that Tucker can teach him how to ride it. Tucker is a servant of the Willsons, so Dewey automatically thinks that Tucker will do as he's asked. Dewey's dependence on Tucker is also a comment on the absence of a close father-son relationship between Dewey and his father. Not once does Dewey think of asking his father to teach him how to ride the new bicycle. Even though Tucker is busy with chores and cannot help Dewey until later, there is still no thought in Dewey's mind of asking his father or his mother because it is taken for granted that this is the job of the "colored boy." And later, when Dewey and Tucker return late for dinner, Tucker is punished--for doing his job, a job that really should have been done by the boy's father. Dewey, of course, is not reprimanded for being late. He is white and cannot be punished like a black boy even though it was at his insistence that they continue the lesson. It is important to note that Tucker's punishment is dictated by a white man and rendered by the black mother for the white man's satisfaction. This is a traditional southern method of teaching black children their "place." Black people have very often had to beat their children at the request of their white masters. Supposedly it was done for the child's own good, but it also effectively demonstrated to the child the low esteem in which his parents were held and made it clear that whites controlled their lives. Also important here is the fact that Tucker is held "responsible" for the white boy's being late. That is, he was supposed to make certain that he and Dewey followed Mr. Willson's rules when they were together. This, of course, is virtually an impossible task because Tucker is the servant and cannot tell Dewey what to do. Dewey may not yet realize this, but Tucker certainly does. It can be seen in the way he looks at people--a look "that made it seem that he was about to lash out and strike at something." Tucker has tried telling Dewey things, such things as not wearing sneakers when riding a bike because he might hurt himself, but Dewey has ignored him. The point here is that many white people refuse to listen to advice or suggestions given them by blacks. Throughout American history and up to this very day, too often this remains the case. Even the so-called white liberals on college campuses around the country are not willing to heed the advice given by blacks, and this has resulted in a widening communications gap between people of different races in America. By being black, Tucker can be right in only one way: by letting white men think for him. To stay in the white man's good graces, a black man must be willing to do the white man's bidding. Even at the early age of thirteen, however, Tucker was a rebel; he was not a "responsible" Negro. He was aware that he would be beaten for not getting Dewey back to the house on time. Yet he accepted this and continued to teach the white boy to ride the bicycle. The action that Tucker takes as an adult is not that of a "responsible" Negro either. But because he is his own man, Tucker gets more respect from the whites of Sutton than any other black man in town. Above all else, Tucker Caliban is the symbol of the strong-willed, individualistic, self-determining black man of today. In addition to showing us this bit of Tucker's background, Kelley also uses this chapter to illustrate the difference in the black and white life styles of the South. Dewey is ten years old, but there is no mention of his having chores or responsibilities. Tucker, at thirteen, is working like a full-grown man; it is also highly unlikely that he would receive a bicycle for his birthday. Dewey, on the other hand, has always had

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a childhood full of material goods. In contrast, Tucker has had no childhood; he has always had to work to insure the comfort of Dewey and his family. And besides this difference in their pasts, there are also hints about their futures. It is possible that were Tucker a passive black man, he would probably become a wrinkled old man like his grandfather, forced to work despite his advanced age. Dewey could probably look forward to becoming, like his father, a manager who does none of the physical labor on the land. Neither child, however, will follow these usual patterns because of one thing: Tucker's rebellion.

THE WILLSONS This chapter examines the relationship between the Willsons and the Calibans. The primary focus is on the white family, but much of their lives depends upon their black servants. The two families throughout their history symbolize the slave-master relationship. In fact, the current generation of Willsons is unable to understand Tucker's new role as a self-determining man. It is significant that Dewey, now returning home from his first year of college, is more concerned with a letter from Tucker than with his reunion with his parents. Kelley points out, again and again, that many white southerners have had no life--or very little life--apart from their slaves. This letter that Dewey cannot understand is important to him; he has spent many hours trying to understand it and wishes he could remember more clearly the day that Tucker writes about. He cannot understand the letter because he feels that it is written in a code that "he could not remember or had never known." Indeed, Dewey has never known the kind of humiliation that Tucker suffered that day. The humiliation came from being punished on instructions from someone outside the family, someone for whom he had done a service, someone unconcerned with his son's joys and aspirations. Tucker's "code," however, is not difficult; it is a simple one. Tucker would like to buy the bike from Dewey and destroy it, just as he has destroyed all of the other symbols of his lifelong humiliation. The bike is the only tie that remains between Tucker the slave and Tucker Caliban the free man. But the fact that Tucker does not get this bike illustrates, in effect, that the blacks are still tied to their slave heritage in this country--even though the bonds are not as tight as they once were. In this chapter, the invisibility theme, touched on briefly in the last chapter, is expanded. When Dewey thinks of how the station looked when he arrived, he cannot remember the abnormally large number of blacks waiting to leave Sutton. He can see only black porters and can remember only the gray suits and the red caps of these blacks. He cannot remember the large number of blacks who were dressed in their best attire. The contrast here is significant because it helps to show how whites fail to see individuals who are black, unless they are in service positions. And equally significant is the fact that Dewey can recall small details about his parents after finding them on a platform filled with blacks, but he cannot remember that any blacks were there--other than the porters. It is only after he has left the station that Dewey begins to notice that something strange is happening. There are more blacks than usual downtown, the good-byes of children seem final, and men talk together attentively and solemnly. It is at this point that the subject of Tucker is brought up. The matter, of course, leads to Dewey's verbally attacking his father. It is ironic that Dewey is slow to grasp that the changes he notices in the blacks were caused by Tucker. As the circumstances of Tucker's departure are told to Dewey, he finds them unbelievable and resolves to find out for himself. This suggests that he did not really know Tucker; he refuses to believe that Tucker could take such action because of their close relationship as children and, too, because Dewey encouraged Tucker to write to him. Despite the fact that there were white and black witnesses to Tucker's acts of destruction, the white community does not really believe the account. Dewey tells his family that he will go find out what actually happened. His quest, taken on the bicycle, will be one in which he will be

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confronted by the realities of southern life--including its violence. Dewey will learn truths which Tucker has always known. As a result, Dewey will lose his long-protected innocence. Dewey is also forced to adjust his relationship with his father. Throughout his life, he felt rejected by his father and blamed him for his mother's unhappiness. On his return, Dewey notices that his mother is close to his father and seems very happy. She has forgiven her husband and is willing to build a new life. Dewey, at first, cannot accept this state of affairs; he does not fully understand that adult life and love are based on forgiveness and compromise.

DYMPHNA WILLSON Bethrah's appearance in response to the advertisement for a maid causes a small stir in the Willson household. Dymphna is stunned, as is her mother, but Missus Caliban is pleased when Bethrah presents herself for the job. Each character's reaction is based on a convention enforced by the black-white relationship in America. Dymphna is "stunned" because Bethrah does not fit the stereotyped image of a black woman. Dymphna cannot believe that there are black women who do not have thick accents and who are not "very dark." This has always been Dymphna's idea of black maids, and she never imagined that black women could have features much like her own. She is puzzled because Bethrah doesn't look "colored." In short, Bethrah is well-dressed, self-assured, slim, and has dark red hair. Camille Willson is startled for many of the same reasons that puzzle Dymphna. Her reaction, the immediate desire to hire Bethrah, is motivated by the fact that she will be able to show off her "odd nigger." It is an added plus to discover that Bethrah was a college student and hopes to earn enough to return to school and finish her degree. This allows Camille to feel good about helping a "colored girl" through school. Again we see the paternalism of white liberalism. As for Missus Caliban, she is pleased because she sees respectability in Bethrah's actions. As Dymphna reports it, "Missus Caliban was really glowing and proud to see a colored girl going to college and willing to work as a maid." Although very little more is said about Missus Caliban, this one short sentence shows that she has assimilated the white indoctrination which blacks have long been subject to. But her reaction to Bethrah, it should be noted, is a realistic one for blacks of her generation and background. Younger blacks might have been troubled that a girl with two years of college would have to take a job as a maid to complete her college education. In Bethrah, Dymphna gets to know her first black person even though she has had blacks taking care of her all of her life. And in knowing Bethrah, Dymphna begins to understand that their relationship is, despite their friendship, awkward; she tries to resolve this by instructing Bethrah to address her by her first name only. Dymphna has been raised in what is thought of as a progressive white household, but she still harbors certain racist attitudes and stereotypes prevalent in the white mind. Her attitudes manifest themselves more subtly than those of the common folk, but they nevertheless remain. At one point, Dymphna comments that she found it strange to ask Bethrah's opinion in matters about her personal life-after all, Bethrah was black. It didn't matter that the two girls were supposed to be friends and that Bethrah was older and better educated. What did matter was that Dymphna was white and was consulting a black person for advice. The implication here is that blacks are not intelligent enough to discuss white matters. Further, this points up the difficulty in developing real friendships between blacks and whites. The friendship that develops between Bethrah and Dymphna is characterized by an exchange of influence on each other's life. Dymphna goes to Bethrah for advice, and Bethrah enlists Dymphna's help in getting Tucker to notice her. Even though their friendship has clear-cut limitations, the two girls become emotionally bound together. In fact, their relationship is somewhat like that between David Willson and Bennett Bradshaw some twenty years earlier. Dymphna points out that she can be friends with Bethrah because there is no danger of social complications. David and Bennett were unable to become close friends, in a social sense, while they attended Harvard. Obviously the time is not yet right for interracial

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mingling, a sentiment expressed by Bennett when David suggested that they double-date with their girlfriends. It is worth noting here that the fifteen-year-old Dymphna is more aware of and more sensitive to blacks than is Dewey, who is three years older. This suggests that the younger the person is, the better suited that person will be to live in the new society that Mister Leland represents. Conversely, the older one becomes, the more bigoted he remains. It is ironic that Bethrah eventually marries Tucker since she was hired because no one dared ask Tucker to do housework. When Missus Caliban needed help with the housework, the only solution was to hire another maid. Tucker would only do things that were considered man's work--that is, lifting heavy objects, taking out the garbage, and so forth. It wasn't that the Willsons felt that black men should not do housecleaning, but they knew better than to ask Tucker. Evidently men servants have helped with the housework before, for Dymphna points out that John is no longer any help to Missus Caliban now that he is so old. Bethrah, a confident, determined, educated, and proud black woman who can "cope with anything," according to Dymphna, falls in love with Tucker. She does not share Dymphna's concern that Tucker is short and not well educated; she recognizes that there is something unique and powerful about him. In a sense, their marriage is symbolic. To it, Tucker brings innate intelligence, rugged individualism, a determination to act on his beliefs, and the desire to free himself. Bethrah fills in the areas in which Tucker is lacking. She brings physical stature and formal education. Together they have all of the attributes which white society has claimed are necessary for blacks to become free citizens. After a year of marriage, a baby, and several unexplained incidents, Bethrah admits to not understanding Tucker. She can't understand him because he does confusing things and never talks them over with her. He doesn't merely think about things; he does them. Tucker is his own man. He consults no one--not even God--about what he must do. During the party scene, Bethrah realizes that Tucker doesn't believe in something she feels very strongly about--that is, the civil rights movement. Tucker, instead, believes that each individual must free himself and that no one else can do that for him. This is the essence of Tucker's character. He believes that one must fight his own battles and either "beat them or they beat you." It is this belief that motivates him to buy the farm when he has no intention of becoming a farmer. This is one of the first steps he takes to free himself. He realizes that no one else can free him and that he must do it himself. This knowledge motivates him to take the steps necessary to liberate himself from the shackles that have bound him to the Willsons, the land, and the South. Bethrah fails to understand Tucker because she has not yet realized that it is better to act than to think and never act. She has not yet realized that to be free means making an individual effort. Once she takes time to think about the things that Tucker does, she begins to see that his grasp of life is superior to that of the so-called educated elite. The final conversation between Bethrah and Dymphna returns to the idea of people losing important parts of themselves. Earlier in the novel, Tucker told Mister Leland that he had lost something. That loss was his manhood, his pride, and his dignity because of his long background as a servant. At another point, Dymphna mentioned that her parents had lost something. She was referring to the happiness and peace of mind that could have been theirs had they been more compatible. Bethrah too is cognizant of the possibility that she has lost something. She has lost a confidence in her own abilities. She points out that Dewey and David have suffered this loss also, but Tucker, in contrast, has retained his self-confidence.

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DEWEY WILLSON III Dewey's nightmare helps explain his character, as well as helps us to understand the fate of the South. In the dream, the southern soldiers are killed and decay in pools of death and sickness. The northern soldiers die and melt, but new soldiers are born from their pools of blood. Although the General throws Dewey his head, a symbol of the tradition-bound South, Dewey is unable to move to save himself. Basically, fear and guilt feelings cause Dewey to have this nightmare; he is terribly frightened and confused because he does not understand Tucker's actions. Trying to find some reason for Tucker's actions, Dewey recalls the death of Tucker's grandfather. During the funeral service, Tucker became angered when the preacher kept stressing John's "sacrifice." Later, Tucker vowed that John would be the last Caliban to die a servant, with nothing better said of his life than that he "was the kind of man would always sacrifice hisself to help others." Dewey didn't understand Tucker's reaction to his grandfather's death. Tucker's motives are, as it were, "invisible" to the young white boy. Dewey is blind to the frustrations, the pain, and the tragedy of black life. Kelley makes several observations in this chapter that help explain the nature of race relations in the South. The prerogatives of manhood, including defending family members from outsiders, are denied to Tucker. White southerners find it far safer and much easier to give a minimal amount of respect to black women, whom they associate with mother figures. Tucker, the oldest surviving male Caliban, is not, to the white bus driver and Dewey, competent enough to claim John's body alone. Dewey usurps the traditional masculine role which should have been Tucker's. Once again, the black man is locked into a serving, dependent role by white society. Bradshaw attempts to use Dewey's insight into Tucker's character. This fails because Dewey has been blind to Tucker; he remembers several incidents, but only after much prodding. As the two men discuss Tucker, the idea of primitivism is brought up again. Tucker, however, was not as passive as Dewey thought, nor was he as fiercely angered as Bradshaw pictures him. Although each character in the novel attempts to interpret Tucker, the whole truth about Tucker remains a mystery. When Dewey and Bradshaw question one of the black men who are waiting to buy tickets at the depot, they find that Tucker's actions have already been enlarged upon. The story is now becoming a legend. The black man repeats the story he heard, but he says that his decision to leave did not directly come from Tucker's rebellion. Kelley makes it clear that these black people are not sheep; they are not following a Great Black Leader--or even a fast-developing mythical one. True, the blacks saw each other leaving, but, most important, each man realized that he was free to leave. He was free to start a new life. And it is significant that the whites do not attempt to molest the blacks; they recognize that nothing can stop them now. Dewey, in his attempt to relieve Bradshaw's concern over his irrelevance to black people, does not realize that he, too, will be affected by Tucker's actions. He does not yet understand that blacks are finally beginning to reclaim their selfhood and their dignity, nor does he realize that Tucker has challenged the entire structure of white supremacy. Bradshaw becomes obsessed with the thought that he has become useless. His entire life, including its material comforts, has revolved around the need for black leaders. Later in the novel, when he submits to the lynch mob, he sees his death as his final contribution to a movement which died with him; he views his death, like Christ's, as a sacrifice for his followers. Ironically, however, Bradshaw is the end of a tradition, while Christ established a philosophy with his death. In a sense, Bradshaw's death, which he hoped would establish a final, relevant act for the black struggle, has no meaning for black people. They have already advanced beyond the need for martyrs, as Bradshaw himself notes.

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CAMILLE WILLSON This chapter and the one following are complements to one another. Camille's viewpoint in this chapter is only half of the story of the marriage; after we hear her side of the story, we will hear David's case. First of all, Camille is not the often stereotyped, empty-headed southern belle. Kelley has been careful to show that her emotions are strong and real; she is no shallow, fragile southern lady. Her concern for her family is quite real. Like other characters in this novel, Camille refers to the idea of loss. She admits that she and David will never be able to compensate for the twenty years of silence in their marriage. Her feeling is that David has finally found in himself the qualities which he buried when he returned to Sutton to manage the family property. Camille describes the days of their courtship and the early days of their marriage. Camille, who had been sent to a finishing school in Atlanta, returned to New Marsails and her old friends and went to a party given by a group of young southern bohemians--students and writers--who were sitting on the floor, discussing Marx. She and David met there and began going out together. Camille refers to the fact that although there were times when he didn't want her around, she trusted and loved him. She did not attempt to understand him, but she trusted him, and that was enough for her. It was this lack of a basic understanding, then, that kept her and David apart. But perhaps David was more to blame for this than Camille because he never told Camille about his troubles and desires. Here the author has set up a sort of parallel situation to that of Tucker and Bethrah. Bethrah, however, was able to reconcile her ways with those of Tucker, whereas Camille was unable to do this with David. When Camille became pregnant with Dewey, David was fired from his job because he wrote "communistic" articles about race relations in the South. Once more, Camille had to admit that she didn't fully understand the situation, but she did declare her faith in David. She was willing to travel to New York to live if he wanted to; but David, unlike Tucker, was not willing to do what was necessary to free himself. Instead, he used his wife and baby as an excuse to become part of the system he detests. Kelley shows here that Tucker is the better man; Tucker is faced with less certainty about his future than David was, yet he resolves to be free--and so he frees himself. Interestingly, Tucker's domestic circumstances are much the same as David's--that is, he was recently married and Bethrah is expecting a child. When Camille describes David's desperate, unsuccessful attempts to find other work, she notes that David was receiving letters from New York. The letters were very disturbing to David, and Camille reacted by saying that she daydreamed about killing the writer. But it was more than the letters which upset David; the letters echoed what was within David's conscience. He continually reminded himself of his pledge to change the southern racist system--of which he was now a part. David failed. And recalling David's war experiences, Camille says that had David been sent overseas and spent some time in a combat situation, perhaps that sense of "real action" might have given him a better image of himself. His war experience, she says, was too much like working on his father's land and being a landlord. David did not want to become part of the system of oppression, but, ultimately, he was unable to avoid it. Camille describes how desperately lonely she felt in the Willson house. Since David did not talk to her, there was no one in whom she could confide. One day, however, she did confide in little Tucker Caliban-and received advice from him. In the guise of telling a fairy tale, Camille asked Tucker if the princess (herself) should leave the prince who had become so cold to her. Tucker suggested that the princess wait; one day the prince would be himself again. Tucker said further that he enjoyed the story about the prince and princess because it was about real people, people like the ones he knew. He explained that he was able to believe in Camille's story, whereas he really couldn't believe in fairy tales. Camille was taken aback; even now, she is inclined to think that Tucker's insight was accidental. Again, this attitude is reminiscent of the paternalistic attitude of whites toward blacks, no matter what the respective ages are.

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Although blacks live around whites, they remain invisible. Whites usually forget the blacks' presence and play out their domestic scenes, caring not a bit whether a black person (usually a maid, handyman, or such) might be watching or overhearing. Blacks are not expected to understand, notice, or appreciate the subtleties of white relationships. It is not understood that blacks live parallel situations in their own lives. Camille, using age as an excuse, does not expect Tucker to know what she is referring to. However, the harsh realities of black-white relationships have traditionally necessitated that blacks develop an early awareness of the nature of the Master, the Mistress, and their children. Tucker has inherited that aspect of southern tradition; he notices, assesses, and interprets the relationship between Camille and David. More important than explaining Camille's relationship with David, however, this episode shows that already Tucker is different. He seems more intelligent than the usual child his age would be. Tucker, the symbol of blacks who have determined to free themselves, many of whom are just average people, has lifted the average man to a higher plane. Kelley has given us a character who represents a new species of man, a man who has acquired superhuman traits in his efforts to survive in a hostile America. There is an interesting bit of symbolism in Camille's reference to Tucker, sitting in bed, looking as if he were waist-deep in white water. Tucker is symbolically encased in white water and in danger of drowning. The water, which can be interpreted as an image of white society and culture, has all but absorbed the American black man. In other words, black people are being absorbed in a sea of whiteness that will eradicate all aspects of a separate black culture. The result: Blacks will lose all control over their wills. It is this intertwining of blacks and whites that is one of the primary motifs of the novel. Whites have depended upon blacks for labor and comfort. And, as a result, blacks have depended upon whites for economic support and social values.

DAVID WILLSON The last chapter concerning the Willson family might well be called "David's Story." It is a sad story of a southern liberal who fought unsuccessfully against his heritage. David is caught in the same system which is attempting to destroy Tucker. Yet it is not David (who is agonized) but, instead, Tucker (who seems content) who takes the action which frees, to a degree, both of the men. Tucker frees himself by breaking the chains of bondage and committing himself to take whatever steps necessary to reclaim his lost manhood. In doing so, he frees David from the white paternalistic attitude that makes him feel that he should be instrumental in helping black people gain their freedom and self-respect. Tucker destroys that idea by demonstrating that he needs no one but himself to claim his liberation. In this chapter, the reader finds a series of excerpts from David's diary, dating from his sophomore year at school and continuing through the day Tucker left his farm. The diary is sort of an internal history of the renewal of courage and the feeling of relief which Tucker's unusual actions brought to David. The opening section is dated May 31, 1957, the day after Tucker destroyed his land. David writes that the day was one of triumph for him, and that Tucker's act has given him--or released in him--reserves of courage and faith. David's feeling of relief comes from the lifting of a burden of guilt for not having done enough to free Tucker and all black people from an oppressive system. Since Tucker has committed himself and broken his white chains, David no longer feels so guilty for having betrayed his liberal dreams. The diary entries then flash back to September 1931, the year David entered Harvard. As he writes, he expresses the hope that college will give him the tools to help reform the South. Later, at a socialist meeting, David meets Bennett Bradshaw, and they strike up a friendship. David is awed by the fact that a black man can be so casually friendly, so intelligent, and sound so British. Here again, Kelley is pointing out that even white liberals often do not expect blacks to exhibit qualities that whites pride themselves on.

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David and Bradshaw spend hours that evening talking about social issues and what each of them wants to do with his future. The two young men are a strong contrast: one is rich, white, and privileged; the other one is poor, black, and nearly without rights as a citizen. As the friendship progresses, David continues to be awed by the range of Bradshaw's knowledge, and he often comments that he is learning a great deal from him, even about the South. In a kind of reverse symbolism, Bradshaw (a black) is for David (a white) a light by which David can better see the South and white-black society. Bradshaw comments that the present black leadership has merely served the interests of the white powerstructure, just as the black overseers did during the slavery era. The leaders, he explains, are self-seeking and primarily concerned with securing their own economic and social positions. Bradshaw's condemnation stems from his extreme idealism; he is sure that he and David will remain dedicated to the cause of black liberation. His statement is particularly ironic when one considers that, eventually, as the leader of the Black Jesuits, Bradshaw will be the same type of leader which here he professes to despise. Bradshaw never really grows, nor, really, does David. Although the young white man is intellectually groping towards a liberal viewpoint, his emotions and loyalties are southern and conservative. He dates and prefers southern women who are the least likely to accept or even consider a liberal thought. He is never really able to overcome his southern white racist background. The diary entries continue to reveal David's--and the southerners--views about blacks. At one point, David's father tells him, "You don't make friends with folks because it's right; you make friends because you like them and can't help liking them." Here, one sees the southerner as an honest, straightforward human being. If he hates you, there is no doubt about it; he makes friends based on true feelings--not on liberalism or idealism. Later, when David asks Camille if she is willing to move North, she does not hesitate to say that she will. But David is unable to summon the courage to make the move. He fears that he and Camille will be stranded in New York, and so he passes off her willingness to go as simple naiveté rather than real courage or faith in him. Another time, he writes that Camille is urging him to go because she feels that he will be desperately unhappy if he returns to his family to work on their land. David insists that she is trying to put up a brave front for his sake. David, however, is hiding from himself--behind Camille; he does not have the courage to forsake the South and the comforts that it allows him. The last entry for 1938 notes simply that David collected rents. There is tragedy in this plain statement. In earlier entries, during his school years, David constantly noted that he wanted to do more than collect rents and perpetuate the southern system of injustice. Now we know that not only has he given up his ideals, but that he has given up on himself. The next entry is in 1954 and concerns Bradshaw's newly created black radical religion. David's comment is that both he and Bradshaw are lost. Again, the idea of loss is referred to. Rather than having lost some part of themselves, the two men themselves are lost. Now David's despair is total: He feels that he and Bradshaw have betrayed their youthful dreams so thoroughly that they can never redeem themselves. One of the most important diary entries records Tucker's bargaining for seven acres of land. At the beginning, the conversation is on the servant-master level, then it becomes a man-to-man situation. David feels some reluctance about selling Tucker the land which Dewitt Willson originally staked out. Then Tucker answers him sharply and refuses to be browbeaten; as a result, David starts talking like one of the southern white supremists. Tucker is not abashed and states that the situation cannot be dealt with racially. And from this point on in the conversation, Tucker keeps David on the defensive, with the knowledge that, at last, he is claiming his heritage.

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When David wants to quibble about the price, Tucker comments that any amount of money, no matter how small, would be more than enough. Tucker has stated his position, and David recognizes that he must deal with a man. Tucker's simple statement, and his final admission, that he wants only the land farmed by the original Calibans is the closest he gets to an outright condemnation of the southern system which forced blacks to work the land of whites without compensation. Yet he does make it very clear to David that the Calibans have as much, if not more, right to the land as the Willsons. David's reluctance to sell what he calls Willson land is cruelly unjust, as is the entire southern racial structure. David's final agreeing to sell the land is a sort of release for him. He feels that he is accomplishing some of what he always wanted to do, what he dreamed of doing when he was younger. This release is not very significant, however, because David feels pressured by Tucker. The selling of the land was not of his own free will. Therefore when Tucker destroys the land, he leaves David feeling only partially freed. The reason is obvious: As Tucker pointed out earlier, all men must free themselves; no one else can do it for them. As they are driving to the farm, David realizes that this is the closest he has been to a black person since the day he and Bradshaw left school and drove to New York. David realizes that he was the one who had no courage; he could not believe in the faith that Bradshaw and Camille had in him. In asking Tucker if Bethrah's disapproval, or anything else, will stop him from buying the farm, David is trying to establish that Tucker may be susceptible to the same failings that he was, but Tucker replies that he cannot stop now because unless something is done, the Calibans will go on working for the Willsons forever. He says that when a person has both opportunity and will, he should go ahead with his plans. A person gets only one chance to change his life, Tucker stresses. Accordingly, David recognizes his shortcomings and that he is no match for this small black man who has the determination to change his life. Kelley is saying that if black men do not take their destiny into their own hands, they will remain the servants of white men forever. Whatever freedom a man wants, he must take for himself. Although Tucker--and all free black people--may not succeed, it is necessary that he make an attempt to be a free man. Tucker's act, and the acts of all blacks who attempt to take control of their lives, is not an ultimate act--or even the end of the struggle. It is only the first step.

THE MEN ON THE PORCH The final chapter in this novel is a summation section. As the chapter opens, the last carloads of blacks are leaving the state. Some of the men have remained at Thomason's store that evening and have decided to go and have a look at the black section of town. There they find houses permanently abandoned. In keeping with the southern tradition of respect for property, the men do not enter any of the homes. When they return to the porch, they do not discuss what they have seen. Each man sits silently, trying to figure out what the impact on their lives will be. None of them is able to reach any conclusion since this experience--a town without blacks--is unique. Stewart arrives with a jug of liquor, and as the men start drinking, they become angry. But their frustration has no object on which to take revenge. They attempt to minimize their apprehension about what their future will be by maintaining that the departure of the blacks will make very little difference. Stewart points out that they no longer have to worry about the threat of integration and that things can return to the old ways and traditions of the South. Stewart also argues that there will be more land and work available as soon as the situation is straightened out. Loomis points out that there may be too much work and not enough people to do it. Stewart, who will not be swayed from his argument, continues; he says that Thomason, the storekeeper, and Hagaman, the undertaker, will not have any more competition. Loomis makes the point that certain jobs, like sweeping

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out stores, have been done only by blacks, never by whites. He is disturbed by the thought that the menial labor will now have to be done by whites. Bobby-Joe, who has been silent during the conversation, suddenly has an idea: The black northern preacher, Bradshaw, must be responsible for the departure of all the blacks. Thomason resists this idea and points out that the preacher did not show up until after Tucker destroyed his farm. Bobby-Joe, however, says that Bradshaw's asking for information was just a trick. He insists that Tucker was not intelligent enough to have influenced all the blacks to leave. He scoffs at the idea that Tucker may have been influenced by the blood of the African, or by events that took place over a hundred and fifty years ago. Bobby-Joe's attitude is, again, typical of the attitude of many whites towards blacks. He insists that the blacks should have stayed in the town where they "belong." It is inconceivable to him that the blacks might have become dissatisfied with their lives; to him, the status quo was right for both white and black. It is to Thomason's credit that he makes an effort to convince the men that Bobby-Joe is wrong. He points out that neither the preacher nor anyone else had been in the black section helping them travel or making sure that they left. Bobby-Joe counters with the argument that northern blacks don't really care about their southern brothers, that they just enjoy stirring up trouble. Thomason makes the point that if the preacher is responsible, there is little that any of them can do about it since he is beyond their reach. Bobby-Joe, however, is not satisfied. He threatens violence if he ever sees Bradshaw again. As the conversation peters out, Bradshaw's car approaches the town, and none of the men see it until it has nearly passed them. Bobby-Joe runs screaming into the street trying to stop the car. The chauffeur, fearing that he has hit something, stops the car. Immediately, the car is surrounded by the men. They jerk open the doors and begin to accuse Bradshaw of instigating the departure of the blacks. Dewey Willson attempts to intercede, but they are eager to accuse him of complicity in the plot, calling him a "nigger lover." Dewey attempts to explain that Bradshaw is innocent but quickly realizes that none of the men are listening to him and that the moment of violence has come. As Dewey turns to Bradshaw for support in his argument, he realizes that the preacher is caught up in the vision of his own downfall and his irrelevance to the black men who have freed themselves. Bradshaw's silence in the face of their accusations is taken as a sign of guilt. When he makes a simple denial of having anything to do with what happened, the men become enraged. They drag him from the car and begin to beat him. Bradshaw makes no resistance and seems almost detached from the blows falling on him. Dewey, however, is nearly hysterical and tries to stop the men. He is pushed aside and beaten. Bradshaw's failure to defend himself further links him with the Christ figure, with whom he identifies. He willingly submits to his fate. Bobby-Joe decides that since Bradshaw is their "last nigger, ever," he should sing one of the old plantation songs. He laments the fact that black people are getting educated and acting "high-class" and can no longer sing and dance and laugh in the old way. The men are quick to agree; they taunt Bradshaw into singing a "darky song." He merely nods, realizing why the blacks left without needing a leader to direct them or inspire them. The constant humiliation of day-to-day life at the mercy of bigots like this mob was enough to force them to move away. One of the most significant things in this final chapter occurs when old Mister Harper tells Dewey that he won't be able to help Bradshaw and that, further, the men will be worse after they have lynched him. He says that the men will be unable to face each other for a while. Dewey cannot understand this. Mister Harper explains that he feels sorry for the white self-righteous men because they do not have what the

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blacks have found--that is, a sense of pride and a future. He consoles Dewey with the thought that Bradshaw will be the last black to be brutalized. The last scene of the novel focuses on Mister Leland, who is awakened by the sounds of Bradshaw's murder. He hears laughter and singing, and he thinks that it is a party welcoming Tucker back. As he lies in bed, Mister Leland remembers a family reunion he attended when he was a little boy. He remembers waking up in the morning and eating the leftover party food before any of the grownups were awake. This suggests that Mister Leland will awake to find the changes--the New South--that his father has been preparing him for. This South will be without blacks (in the old sense of the word) because the men from the porch have killed the last of the old blacks and all the others have left. The suggestion that Tucker will return can be seen as the return of a new black race and the establishment of a different kind of southern society. Mister Leland plans what he will do when morning comes. After church, he and his brother Walter will walk over to Tucker's farm. He envisions a happy reunion with Tucker, who will tell him that he found what he was looking for. This, symbolically, will be the beginning of the new society. Yet Mister Leland's interpretation is a fantasy in sharp contrast with what is really taking place on Tucker's farm. Here, Kelley wants the reader to understand important points about his characters. If the children did go to the farm, they would discover the grisly leftovers of a lynching, not a happy reunion party. In a sense, the fantasy of the child is not much different from that of Bobby-Joe and the men who are attempting to keep the traditions of the Old South, where white men were the masters. It is important to realize that Tucker is not back. Mister Leland and Walter are left to rebuild the South.

CHARACTER ANALYSES TUCKER CALIBAN Tucker Caliban is the descendant of an African chief who was brought to America in chains. The African refused to be enslaved and fought the system and the men who tried to keep him a captive. His fight ultimately ended in his destruction, but he left his child to carry on in his tradition. Thus Tucker is related to the African and to a part of the legend that surrounds the African's descendants. Our view of Tucker, it should be noted, is one-sided; we get to know him mainly through the narration of white characters. Even so, there are many significant aspects to this man. He is of small physical stature, yet he has the power to intimidate those around him. Most important, he views himself as a man. Accordingly, all of those with whom he has contact respect him. Tucker is also a thinker, but he does not let his ability to think prevent him from being a doer. Further, he is determined, and once he has decided upon a course of action, there is nothing or anybody that can deter him. In Tucker Caliban, Kelley has given the black man both dignity and heritage. Here is a man, like the African, who resists the ideals of the oppressive society in which he lives; he is a man who is linked with his past, a past that the society of the South has tried to destroy. Significantly, white people tell the reader this, thus revealing that their myths and lies have been just that--myths and lies. Tucker is not really a speaking character because Kelley wants us to realize that what we say has little meaning; it is only what we do that counts. The black people in the novel do; the white characters talk. Moreover, Tucker does not speak because it is important that whites and blacks become cognizant of the pervasiveness of the black presence in white society. Tucker is a rather well-developed character because the whites know quite a lot about him and have been affected by him. Yet he is not a fully developed character because the reader does not know how he perceives himself, or how the blacks around him think

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of him. But this is not finally important in the context of the novel. Tucker Caliban is the symbol of the new black man, a spiritual descendant of Africa, an integral part of American society, and a determined fighter.

CAMILLE WILLSON Camille Willson is the "new" southern woman--that is, she has traveled away from the town in which she was born and has seen some other ways of living. However, like the typical southern woman, she sees blacks only as servants and is never overly concerned about society's denial of their humanity. The early years of Camille's marriage to David were blissful, partly because she was ignorant of the kinds of changes which he and his northern friends were trying to make in the South. Her most admirable and enduring quality is the depth of her belief in, and commitment to, her husband--despite the years of silence in their marriage after they moved back to live with his family. After moving back to the family home, David becomes quiet and introverted; he feels guilty because he has betrayed his youthful ideals. Camille is left out of his life, and the two children become her main concern. Camille's blindness to the unfairness of the southern racist system is demonstrated by the fact that she was never concerned about Tucker and his lack of opportunities despite the fact that Tucker and Dewey were playmates. She recalls one evening when she was putting the boys to bed--in the same room--and young Tucker gave her some advice. Although she was not convinced that the boy knew exactly what he was talking about, she did listen to his advice. It seems as though Tucker's act frees David and saves his marriage. However, there is never any indication that Camille has the slightest understanding of Tucker or of the other blacks, or that she has begun to grasp the cruelty of the social system which protected her and her daughter from the harsh realities of their southern society.

DAVID WILLSON As a young man, David resolved to work for meaningful changes in the lives of blacks in the South. He tried to overcome the bigotry of his parents and attempted to commit himself to ideals foreign to the South. Part of the reason for this commitment came from his studies at Harvard and his association with Bennett Bradshaw, a black friend. At Harvard, David was exposed to many new ideas and a different type of black man than he had been familiar with. Through Bennett, David is introduced to blacks as individuals. Thus, at one point in his life, David recognized the extent of the myths and the stereotypes which whites have spread about blacks for so many years. For a while, David became a changed person. But David reverted. After being smeared as a Communist because of his newspaper articles, he weakened--and went home and returned to his oppressor system. He had a conscience, however, and someone to goad his conscience: Bennett Bradshaw. Bennett wrote to David and continually reminded him that he was no longer a man of his convictions; he was nothing more than a fair-weather liberal. David wrestled with this pronouncement but finally accepted it as truth. From that point on, he was able to live with himself because he no longer had any pretensions about who he was. David, like Bennett, is a tragic figure. He began with good intentions but allowed the opportunities for action to bypass him. He finally becomes obsolete in terms of the black struggle. He is of little use to himself, his wife, or his children. The irony of the situation is heightened when Tucker takes drastic action. Tucker's chances for success in a new life are much smaller than those of the Harvard-educated David. Yet Tucker grabs for his opportunity.

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DYMPHNA WILLSON When we first meet Dymphna, she is trying to make some sense of the events of the past two days. In doing so, she searches for memories of Bethrah, the only black she has known really well. Unlike Dewey, Dymphna knows quite alot about the black person whom she has called "friend." Years ago, when Dymphna met Bethrah, she did hold some stereotyped attitudes about black women, but she managed to overcome many of them and to work out at least a restricted kind of friendship. Her exposure to Bethrah has made her aware of some of the problems facing blacks in a white society, and Dymphna even tried to eliminate one of them. She didn't wish to consign Bethrah to her "place" by requiring Bethrah to address her as "Miss Dymphna." Because of her experience with Bethrah, Dymphna has a bit of understanding as to why Tucker left Sutton. Thus Dymphna, like Mister Leland, is one of the few white characters who raises some questions about the society in which she lives. She is still affected by racism, but she is more aware and concerned about the lives of people who are unjustly treated. She also realizes that her greatest contribution can be to leave other people alone and allow them to live their lives in peace.

HARRY LELAND Harry Leland is an important figure in this novel because he keeps the events in perspective as Tucker destroys his property. It is Harry Leland, for example, who makes the reader understand that Tucker is not crazy, as is suggested by the others at the farm. He also makes sure that the reader knows that Tucker is destroying his own property and has every right to do so if he wishes. Further, Harry explains that the departure of the blacks is a courageous act, that they are saying No to the injustices in their lives. Harry is the one man in the group on the porch who recognizes that blacks have been mistreated. And he is willing to do something about it--that is, he is trying to raise Harold to be a decent human being. He insists that Mister Leland use proper titles for blacks and respect them as human beings. When Harold refers to Tucker as a "nigger," Harry reprimands him and explains that one should not call people names because such names hurt and humiliate. With all of Harry's good intentions, however, he does contribute to the status quo in racial relations. He is unwilling to bare his convictions in the presence of his friends on the porch; likewise, he is not willing to speak out against his friends' racism. But perhaps Harry's reluctance to speak out is not so damning after all; Kelley makes it clear that concerning Tucker, it is not words that count--it is action. And Harry is willing to act to prevent his son from absorbing the hate and bigotry of Sutton.

MISTER LELAND Harold Leland (or Mister Leland, as he is called) is the eight-year-old son of Harry Leland. Mister Leland is growing up at a time when changes are coming to the South, and, through his father, he is being taught how to reconcile his life to those changes. His education, however, has many flaws because he is being exposed to the contradictions that plague his father. Yet he is the only white character who seems to have a future in the new society. His education, it should be pointed out, reveals to him the role of the black, and he is beginning to understand the black man's treatment by the white majority. He is exposed to the racism of the whites with whom his father associates, and all of this leads him to ask some very pertinent questions about his southern culture. His ability to ask and answer these questions gives him a link with the future because these are questions that will have to be dealt with as society changes and blacks and whites come to view themselves differently. Kelley seems to put the future of southern society in the hands of this young white boy for two reasons: Mister Leland is the son of a man who has the insight to recognize that the status quo will not persist indefinitely. Accordingly, Harry tries to prepare Mister Leland to live in the changing society; the young, after all, are better able to cope with change. Kelley, therefore, makes Mister Leland a symbol of the new society. Mister Leland will not be a panacea for race relations, for he still harbors many of the prejudices

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and attitudes of the older generation. But the important thing is that he is far more tolerant of other views and other people than most of the male population of Sutton.

DEWEY WILLSON Dewey is a symbol of a significant group of white Americans. Dewey grew up with Tucker; Tucker was a large part of his early years, but David was uninterested in the psychological make-up of the boy. Dewey and Tucker played together and slept in the same room. Tucker taught Dewey how to ride a bicycle. Tucker advised him. But Dewey never knew very much about Tucker or any of the other blacks around him. To Dewey, Tucker was an invisible man, a man seen in terms of his being a servant of the Willson family. When Dewey returns home from his first year at college, we see proof of how thoroughly invisible the blacks are for him. At the depot, there are large crowds of blacks leaving Sutton, but Dewey does not see these people. He only sees those who are in service positions--porters and the like. More important, Dewey is oblivious to the conditions under which blacks live; he cannot understand why Tucker would want to leave Sutton. Dewey is incapable of thinking of blacks in terms of their humanity. He is the epitomy of the unconscious racist.

CRITICAL ESSAYS RACISM: DEFINITION AND HISTORY Fundamental to the understanding of race relations in this country is a comprehension of the term racism. Basically, racism is the conviction that another race is innately inferior to one's own or to all other races, and that it is therefore morally right to segregate, to dominate, and even to eliminate that race. Racism takes for granted such generalizations as "All Negroes are lazy." A racist accepts at face value a certain line of reasoning ("Since this man is a 'nigger,' he must be lazy") and a certain emotional attitude ("I hate those lazy niggers"). Modern scientific and psychological studies have proven, however, that there is no evidence that the black race is biologically, intellectually, or temperamentally inferior to any other race. Yet myths about the black's inferiority and his "animalistic" nature are still popularly believed--for example, that the black man's brain is smaller than the white man's, that his sexual organs are larger, that he is lazier, less intelligent, and more inclined to criminal acts. Not only are accusations of this sort untrue, but modern sociologists and anthropologists also question whether there are any objective criteria--apart from superficial or cultural ones--for classifying human beings as belonging to one race rather than another. Certainly there is no historical or scientific basis for a concept of racial "purity" which insists that anyone who is not one hundred percent Caucasian (an unprovable issue in itself) belongs to a totally different race. Why, then, did such misconceptions develop in the first place? The work of historians and sociologists has suggested that the roots of such racist beliefs lie early in the era when the white man in this country was enslaving black people. At first, black slaves were treated quite similarly to white indentured servants, but as it became economically more profitable to push some slaves into lower and lower conditions and to refuse them the indentured man's privilege of working off his bondage, blacks were singled out for such suppression. A man who wished to enslave others--as opposed to using their services as indentured men--knew that it would be considered immoral to deprive men just like himself of their fundamental rights. Thus, he sought out people of a culture and appearance different from his own; he believed that he could classify them at least as "inferior" human beings, or even, with a little more rationalization, as "subhuman." This categorization enabled him to justify his enslavement of them: In his mind they were like cattle or horses--inferior creatures created for the use of superior beings like himself. Cliffs Notes on A Different Drummer © 1973

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When slavery was legally abolished, the white former slave owner either had to accept and acknowledge the idea that he had been wrong in his practices or he had to work even harder than before to convince himself that he had, after all, only been exerting the natural domination of a superior creature over an inferior one. The latter train of thought seems to be the basis for contemporary racism. Of course, the more the freed slaves tried to raise their level of accomplishment--the more they threatened to show themselves as equals of whites in every way--the more the white racist had to prevent such achievements in order to prevent a feeling of guilt. Thus, a vicious circle was created which lasts still today: The more the white man oppressed blacks, the greater guilt he felt, and, therefore, the more he had to oppress blacks in order to prove to himself that blacks were inferior. Nor was the Northerner free of such racist views, although his actions and policies were not so extreme. Once the zeal of the antislavery movement had been tempered by the Northern victory in the Civil War and by the granting of citizenship and voting rights to blacks shortly afterward, the Northerner found it easier simply to sit back and let the South work out its own problems. Without the prodding of the Northern conscience, Southern white racism grew more vindictive than ever in the last three decades of the nineteenth century. The degree of repression and the number of mob actions against blacks reached a peak in the South around the turn of the century--a period when a hundred or more lynchings a year were common. And from the 1880s on, the South enacted various laws designed to achieve the complete segregation of blacks from whites. As a result of their failure to stop these outrages, and also because of their toleration of increasingly worse conditions in their own ghettos, Northerners began to feel guilty. Thus, they too began to subscribe to some of the Southern theories of black racial inferiority in order to justify their own lack of responsibility. In the first half of the twentieth century, problems persisted in the South and grew more acute in the North. Large numbers of blacks migrated to cities in the North only to find that they had exchanged rural poverty for urban poverty. With virtually no financial resources, the migrant blacks found they could afford to live in only the most dilapidated areas of the cities. Moreover, the Northern whites, while unwilling to approve segregationalist laws, were not receptive to the influx of large numbers of unskilled workers unused to urban living. The new group had a different way of life and, moreover, was an economic threat to the low income whites because they could be exploited by unscrupulous employers who could hire them at lower wages. White workers, generally poorly educated, were quick to adopt many of the racist attitudes of Southerners, espousing the doctrine of the inferiority of the black race in order to discourage employers from hiring black workers who, whites insisted, might work for lower wages but were too lazy and stupid to work as well as they. As these white workers improved themselves economically and moved into the suburbs, they took their racist attitudes with them, creating the white belt around the central urban area, a pattern typical of most Northern cities today. Black Northern ghettos became centers of frustration and despair; first, because of the intolerable living conditions produced by overcrowding, and by the unwillingness of cities to spend money to improve ghetto schools and facilities, to provide adequate public services and to enforce building codes and health regulations against unprincipled white landlords; and, second, because even a successful black was prevented by white society and by unscrupulous realtors from moving into better neighborhoods. In the North, then, despite liberals' condemnations of Southern bigotry and proclamations of equal rights for all races, economic patterns were such that a black person in an urban ghetto was virtually predestined to a life of poverty, disease, and social restriction. Unlike the South, however, the North did tolerate some blacks in professional fields and did allow occasional token integration of a few schools and neighborhoods.

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In the North, social restraints involved subtle tactics, but Southerners did not hesitate to indulge in the most flagrant violations of law to repress blacks. Virtually all blacks were prevented from registering to vote; all were in segregated schools, usually greatly inferior ones specifically designed to keep the educational level of blacks low; and all were prohibited from using the same public facilities as whites. Furthermore, blacks lived in constant fear of the brutality of public officials and the violence of white mobs. World War II had two important effects on race relations in the United States. First, many blacks returned to this country after having found an acceptance abroad which was denied to them in this country. When they returned to America's racist restrictions, these blacks were understandably less willing to tolerate such injustice. This unwillingness led to increasingly organized efforts by blacks to achieve their civil rights; they established CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) in the early 1940s and revitalized such existing organizations as the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) and the National Urban League. The movement continued with the efforts of Martin Luther King, Jr. and others in the Montgomery bus boycotts and later in the 1957 establishment of the SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference). In the 1960s, disillusioned with the ability of such nonviolent organizations to achieve necessary changes, black protest took on a more militant aspect in such newer organizations as the Black Panthers; in the reassessment of tactics and goals by such older organizations as SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) and CORE; and in the formation of various black students' organizations. The second important effect of the war on race relations was that because of its role in the war, the United States had world attention strongly focused on it. Suddenly Northern liberals began to become conscious of the ugly image which American racism gave this country abroad. These influences combined in the 1950s to produce a reawakening of the Northern liberal conscience which--added to the effects of the black civil rights movement--resulted in the passage of certain beneficial legislation and in several crucial Supreme Court decisions. But the outcome of this period of reform was not enough to prevent such later occurrences as the outbreaks in Watts and Jersey City, and the discriminatory law enforcement tactics visible in the Jackson State incident.

KELLEY'S STYLE The novel is told almost wholly from the viewpoint of the white people in the town. The black characters are never used as narrators, and the few instances in which they do speak are re-told by either a white narrative voice or by an omniscient narrator. This technique is surprising in view of the fact that the major action of the novel is initiated and carried out by the black characters. The use of this technique highlights, again and again, the naiveté and blindness of the whites in regard to the blacks, with whom they have lived all their lives. It also shows the tremendous effect of blacks upon the lives of whites. Tucker's actions and the migration of the black people leave nearly all of the whites stunned with shock and disbelief that a black man could take such independent action. Harry Leland, David Willson, and Dewey Willson are the only whites who even begin to understand the depth of the frustrations suffered by black men under the southern social system. Readers who insist upon categorizing novels within a racial context as black or white or Indian, for example, may be somewhat confused by the fact that the major characters of this novel seem to be white. However, the novel is structured and developed within the context of the black experience. Tucker's "primitive" act of destruction echoes the African tribal rites of purification and those involving a man's "coming of age." Tucker destroys all that upon which he depended emotionally, economically, and psychologically. The fire which destroyed his house and possessions also purified his mind in the sense that he has freed himself. He has become a free man through self-knowledge and action.

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Kelley assembles the novel like a jigsaw puzzle. The psychological motivation behind Tucker's actions and the migration is given to us skillfully, in bits and pieces. Each character who narrates a chapter tells a brief section of the central action, which covers only two days. However, each separate chapter is devoted to flashbacks, some encompassing many years. In addition, some sections are personal memories of the characters, while other sections are devoted to legend. It is interesting to note that the chapter which tells of the African and his refusal to become a slave and the chapter concerning the day Tucker destroyed all physical and emotional ties with the white southern society which had nearly destroyed him take on the sense of being legends. Both men, through their heroic and somewhat mysterious nature, become heroes within the folklore of the region. Kelley's use of this form may be seen as an indirect refutation of the common belief that American blacks have no historical or mythical store on which to build a literature and culture. The novel, then, falls somewhat within the genre of the historical novel, although its concern is more with the social heritage than with facts, dates, and battles. Note, however, that a battle (usually the crux of historical novels) is fought; here, the battle occurs in the mind of Dewey Willson between the personifications of the social forces then and now at war in the South.

ESSAY TOPICS AND REVIEW QUESTIONS 1.

How does the legend of the African relate to Tucker's actions?

2.

How does the invisibility theme relate to Tucker and the other blacks in the novel?

3.

Discuss the significance of the items that are destroyed by Tucker.

4.

What has caused David to lose the "something" that Tucker retains?

5.

How are the images of the wheelchair and Mister Harper related?

6.

Explain Bennett Bradshaw's relationship to Christ.

7.

How does the South affect the relationship between Tucker and Bethrah?

8.

Discuss Tucker as a "primitive" man.

9.

Interpret the role of each of the men on the porch.

10.

Contrast Mister Leland with Mister Harper.

11.

Explain the dilemma of Harry Leland. How does he resolve it?

12.

How does the fact that the story takes place in an imaginary state add to the novel's effectiveness?

13.

How does Tucker view freedom?

14.

Discuss Dymphna and Dewey as guardians of the status quo in race relations.

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SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY KELLEY, WILLIAM MELVIN. "American in Rome." Mademoiselle (March 1965). _____. "If You're Woke You Dig It." New York Times Magazine (May 20, 1962): 45. _____. "On Africa in the United States." Negro Digest XVII (May 1968): 10-15. _____. "A Symposium: The Measure and Meaning of the Sixties." Negro Digest XIX (November 1969): 17-19. SEREBNICH, JOHN. "New Creative Writers." Library Journal LXXXIV (October 1959): 3015.

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