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Motifs
Definition of Paradox
A paradox is a figure of speech that seems to contradict itself, but which, upon further examination, contains some kernel of truth or reason. Oscar Wilde's famous declaration that "Life is... read full definition
A paradox is a figure of speech that seems to contradict itself, but which, upon further examination, contains some kernel of truth or reason. Oscar... read full definition
A paradox is a figure of speech that seems to contradict itself, but which, upon further examination, contains some kernel... read full definition
Prologue
Explanation and Analysis—Broadway's Lights:
In describing the “hole” into which he has retreated, siphoning large amounts of energy from the Monopolated Light & Power Company, the narrator uses a paradox:
My hole is warm and full of light. Yes, full of light. I doubt if there is a brighter spot in all New York than this hole of mine, and I do not exclude Broadway. Or the Empire State Building on a photographer’s dream night. But that is taking advantage of you. Those two spots are among the darkest of our whole civilization—pardon me, our whole culture (an important distinction, I’ve heard)—which might sound like a hoax, or a contradiction, but that (by contradiction, I mean) is how the world moves.
He insists that his “hole” (in fact, a shut-off section of the basement of an apartment building restricted to white residents) is not cold and dark like a grave, but rather “warm and light.” Because he has lined the walls of his makeshift home with lightbulbs in order to drain as much energy as possible, he feels that there is no “brighter spot in all New York,” including “Broadway” and “the Empire State Building,” two sites that are famously bright due to a large number of electric lights.
Here, he introduces a paradox, stating that those two locations are “among the darkest of our whole civilization.” His paradox plays upon the different meanings of the word “dark.” Though these locations are physically bright, he feels that they are spiritually dark due to their commercial prominence in a city which he regards as deeply corrupt. Though he acknowledges this apparent “contradiction,” he insists upon its accuracy, as he believes that the world itself is paradoxical.
Chapter 25
Explanation and Analysis—Wrong But Justified:
After finding himself in a dangerous position, trapped in the midst of a riot between the police and the homicidal Ras the Destroyer, the narrator escapes and overhears a group of men joking about Ras’s eccentric behavior. Reflecting on recent events, the narrator uses a series of paradoxes and a metaphor:
They were laughing outside the hedge and leaving and I lay in a cramp, wanting to laugh and yet knowing that Ras was not funny, or not only funny, but dangerous as well, wrong but justified, crazy and yet coldly sane … Why did they make it seem funny, only funny? I thought. And yet knowing that it was. It was funny and dangerous and sad. Jack had seen it, or had stumbled upon it and used it to prepare a sacrifice. And I had been used as a tool.
In his emotionally confused state, he finds himself “wanting to laugh” while simultaneously feeling that “Ras was not funny.” In a series of short paradoxes, the narrator describes Ras as “funny” yet “dangerous,” “wrong” yet “justified,” both “crazy” and “coldly sane.” At this point in the novel, the narrator feels that his society is so absurd and paradoxical that only a “crazy” person such as Ras has a true understanding of how things really are. He then reflects upon Brother Jack, another figure competing for power in New York. In a metaphor, the narrator describes Jack’s behavior as “[preparing] a sacrifice,” suggesting that Jack is willing to exploit the violence and suffering in Harlem in order to accrue more power. These dark reflections anticipate the narrator’s later retreat from society.
