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Dialect
Chapter 9
Explanation and Analysis—They See It:
In Chapter 9, the reader is introduced to one of Richard's many short-lived friendships, with Griggs, a boy from school. Griggs wants to help Richard "learn how to live in the south" so that he stops getting himself in trouble so often. The two boys are foils for one another:
Suddenly Griggs reached for my arm and jerked me violently, sending me stumbling three or four feet across the pavement. I whirled.
"What's the matter with you?" I asked.
Griggs glared at me, then laughed.
"I'm teaching you how to get out of white people's way," he said.
I looked at the people who had come out of the store; yes, they were white, but I had not noticed it.
Griggs believes that Richard acts in a way that is acceptable around other Black people, but not around White people. Richard notes that, often, he hardly notices someone's race. But Griggs is the novel's "Uncle Tom" figure, based on the title character in Harriet Beecher Stowe's classic novel Uncle Tom's Cabin: Griggs, like Uncle Tom, is especially aware of White people and goes out of his way to appease them. Griggs tries to get Richard to act respectfully, from his words to his facial expressions: "There it is, now! It's in your face. You won't let people tell you things. You rush too much. I'm trying to help you and you won't let me." In other words, Richard thinks for himself too much and does not readily subordinate himself. Griggs sums up his argument succinctly in a final rebuke to Richard: "You act around white people as if you didn't know that they were white. And they see it."
Thus Griggs forms a self-conscious foil to Richard. While Richard is brazen and self-assured, filled with anger and fear, Griggs is practical and calculating, subservient to White people because it is the logical, economical path. Richard understands that, even though it might be prudent, he is not able to follow Griggs's guidance rigorously: "What Griggs was saying to me was true, but it was simply utterly impossible for me to calculate, to scheme, to act, to plot all the time." The presence of Griggs intensifies Richard's commitment to his worldview and is an important part of Richard's maturation in Part I.
Related Themes:
