The Light of the Fight

The narrator of the story is a man of intelligence, who could be much greater than what society allows him to be. He speaks in his own paradoxes that represent the duplicity of the world. He sees his hole as the “[brightest] spot in all New York” (6), simply because it removes him from the presence of racial inequality. No fights, no confrontations, no slurs need occur, so long as he can drown himself in the serenity of solitude and Louis Armstrong. This brightness is well represented as being in the basement of a building “rented strictly to whites” (6). He lives below the whites, in constant racism and oppression, but plans to strike back. His leeching of electricity is only one “covert preparation for a more overt action” (13). These preparations and actions of his had been going on continuously for years, through his physical fighting as a youth. He fought physically in the ring, but only driven the need to fight his oppressors with words. Subconsciously, through the laughter and degradation present during his speech, he tickled the beast by changing ‘social responsibility’ into ‘social equality.’

However, fighting with flare did not always suit his purposes. He knows it is “advantageous to flatter rich white folks” (38) partly because his grandfather wanted to keep the fight going in such ways as [undermining] ‘em with grins” (16). The narrator is a fighter by all means, which coupled with his intellect, makes for a saucy challenger in the social struggles. He realizes his bright potential reflected in his basement, and will fight by all means necessary for him and for race up to the penthouse suite.