At the end of the novel Richard Wright is attempting to reunite and reconcile with his old friends from the communist party, he was earlier kicked out of, he approaches them, only to be ignored, at the May Day parade. Two white men beat him up and throw him out of the parade, and instead of intervening the black members from the communist party sit by and watch, failing to intervene or stop this.
Wright is baffled at their lack of courage or awareness and eventually comes to a powerful realization. Formerly he was trying to evoke a sense of unity among his black peers, but comes to understand that uniting the entire black population to stand up against the whites and fight for their justice is pointless, because in reality his life has shown him no sense of even "human life," that really it is all people within the nation that are "going down the same drain." Within this realization he understands that his only way in freeing himself or enabling himself to feel connected to the world, was to try and create a "echo" an awareness or knowledge that he has gained through his experiences, and his most effective mechanism is to write and allow his thoughts to become tangible through words.

Yes, I agree with Wright's theory that artists and politicians stand at opposite poles, both the types of approaches demonstrated and the essential intended goal is very different. Artists are creating some sort of visual/audio object that is intended to evoke emotion within its viewers, the specific emotion that prevails doesn't necessarily matter to the artist. The primary purpose of most artists is to influence. They have a much more expansive range in which they can reach the people, and their success is not determined ultimately by "pleasant" or "approving" reactions to their art. Politicians on the other hand have a shit load of pressure allocated upon their shoulders. If they don't satisfy the public they won't have a job and their ability to influence people quickly diminishes. They are working to provide their community with what the people living within it want. Their amount of freedom is much more limited and the scope of evaluation is much more direct and explicit.

A group is definitely able to be influenced by one single individual, especially when the group is either apprehensive and undecided or if the issue is irrelevant and their attitude is slightly indifferent. It is centrally decided on power, and the individuals ability to exercise their power effectively upon the larger group. The same can occur in opposite roles, I think this is more common but both are powerful and drastically persuasive. The issues range from life changing political influences to petty decisions made by a coach, when a strong figure is presenting ideas with a meaningful approach and strongly supported evidence the group is almost unable to oppose it or question the proposal. Wright was influenced by the "communist" groups and they too were influenced by Wright's attitude and ideas.

The passage at the top of page 267 was powerful in my opinion. He is verbalizing the notion that he has feared for so long, the terror Wright writes about at the end of Part I is becoming the truth and reality of his own life. Before experiencing the North, specifically Chicago, on a first hand basis he has a utopia picture of the culture there and is moving solely to seek a better relationship with his community, including self worth and equal rights. But, living in Chicago he only realizes that racial boundaries are ever present there as well. "I was going through a second childhood; a new sense of limit of the possible was being born in me. A dim notion of what life meant to a Negro in America was coming to consciousness in me, not in terms of external events, lynchings, Jim Crowism, and the endless brutalities, but in terms of crossed-up feeling, of psyche pain. I sense that Negro life was a sprawling land of unconsciousness suffering, and there were few but Negroes who knew the meaning of their lives, who could tell their story." In the South Wright had learned that blacks were expected to act a certain way and their behavior must be submissive toward white people in general, he knew that he must get out, hoping to find equality in the North and a meaning in life other than through suffering, but he only comes to the fact that his idealistic views of the North are wrong and he quickly must find ways to diminish and forget those hopeful dreams of finding an inclusive society, being a black man.

Wright's decision to move north in my opinion was a positive change in his life. Living in the South as a black man requires an attitude of one's self-worth that is explicitly dictated by the white people of that community. The standards they expect the blacks to live in is patronizing and limiting. Because Wright questions these unmoral behaviors and refuses to allow himself to be scrutinized and belittled consistently by his principles, co-workers, and employers he had to find an escape and seek a home that is closer to equality and demonstrates a higher amount of human respect. Chicago will not ultimately eliminate the discrimination aimed towards him, but it will tone it down and I think Wright's well being will become more positive and stable.

Wright says that he "had begun coping with the white world too late," and by this I think he means that he is finally understanding that he is incapable of lowering his self standards to fill the role that the whites have created for him. He comes to this realization after working several petty and trivial jobs in these two chapters. He is unable to conform and become conditioned to the behavior expected of him. When a white employer or white co-worker is rude, patronizing, and racist toward him he simply moves jobs. Wright hadn't been raised in such a segregated and demeaning kind of place so he isn't accustomed to the idea that this is normal and expected. Also, because he has recognized the injustice that so bluntly occurs, and realizes that the cause is unjustifiable he refuses to except it.

Yes, I do, very much so. Wright was simply trying to share with the audience his experience with school,whether it be an educated one that created an articulate well spoken student or an uneducated inadequate one, he wanted to give his speech to show what the school made of him, and the principal, the black principal, was only considering the opinions of the white audience members. This goes to show that not only are the black students under the control of the white superiority, but also black men with higher positions and a stable occupation have to sink down to the level that white people hold for ALL black people. Wright refuses to conform to the "way you act around white people" that his principal is trying to teach him. Wright also becomes irritated with the idea that another black man is trying to teach him this behavior, he has learned to expect it from his white peers but if baffled that another black person would encourage these values and behavior. He doesn't understand why his principal feels it is okay for black people to act and feel inferior just because they are not white.

After Uncle Tom asks Wright, as he is waking up a question, Wright replied with an unfit answer, and Uncle Tom began to threaten Wright with a beating. Wright quickly became very angry because he was once again being physically hurt by something he didn't justifiably deserve. He felt like his uncle had no power or control over him, and he had no right to beat him because of that lack of respect between both of them. Wright's relationship with his uncle was that of two strangers almost, and Wright knew that his uncle was no person that he should be learning from. His anger not only stemmed from the actual threat but he also was infuriated at the idea that someone could do this, and consider it logical. He didn't defend himself physically but when he talked about never wanting to become like his uncle, it was affirmation that Wright is looking for the bigger picture and striving to overcome the racist and abuse he experiences now.