On the Bus

In chapter 7, the narrator gets on a bus to go up north. He is not the only one in the bus and the reader is surprised to find that the vet is in the bus as well. It is in this chapter that this character stands out as the foil to the narrator. While the narrator always wants to please his superiors particularly “the white men”, the vet speaks openly against this behavior. He describes them as a big man that “pulls your strings until you refuse to be pulled away anymore” (pg 154).

The metaphor the vet says shows his dislike of the white man and how they only use the people. He also generalizes whenever he speaks saying that “they” envelops every person that is white. While the narrator has hoped that some white person will help him, the vet only antagonizes them. It’s also interesting that the person who sees clearly how the narrator is being used is a crazy person and not the educated one.

Even after all the conversation with the vet the narrator still firmly believes that he is on a righteous path. Clearly the fact that the book starts with him in such a dark position and what the vet says, shows that this path he believes is his destiny, wont take him there. There are clear warnings about this and he chooses to ignore them. Even though the book begins with the ending, the reader could foreshadow the characters fall through his interactions.