Blog Post #3

The narrator is taking Norton to see the countryside around the campus. As he is doing that, they see the old slave quarters, and the narrator begins to regret driving him out that way. He regrets it because Jim Trueblood lives out there, and Trueblood is looked at in hatred and disgust throughout the campus for impregnating his own daughter. After they talk with Trueblood and he explains what happened that he ended up impregnating his daughter, the narrator takes Norton to a near by tavern that also serves black people, because he fears that Norton will die of shock. At the tavern, a couple black war veterans carry Norton inside since he has fallen unconscious. As Norton regains consciousness, a brawl breaks out and Norton becomes unconscious again. A veteran takes Norton upstairs to where the prostitutes stay. This veteran claims to be a doctor and a graduate of the college. The veteran says that Norton only sees the narrator as a mark on his scorecard of achievement instead of a man, and the narrator sees Norton as a god. 

This veteran's analysis of Norton and the narrator, seems true in my opinion. Norton doesn't respect the narrator as a man, but instead respects the deeds and favors he does for him. The relationship between the two could be compared to Amir and Hassan's relationship in the beginning of "The Kite Runner". Although Hassan sees them as friends, Amir only used Hassan whenever he wasn't busy doing something else. In other words, only respecting Hassan for the stiff he did for him. The narrator seeing Norton as a god, is also like how Hassan saw Amir. Hassan was ready to do anything for Amir in the blink of an eye. Although the narrator might not know it, he would probably do the same for Norton, because he wants to get to the same social status as him.