There's been a fair amount of class discussion recently about Coalhouse Walker, primarily concerning his actions following the destruction of his car. One of the most controversial aspects of of these unfolding events is probably whether or not his violence is justified. Coalhouse could have just as easily paid the arbitrary fine set forth by the men and been on his way. Being a full grown man black man living in this period of America, he, like many others, has in all likelihood had to submit to the unfair tolls of racism before. This time was different though, and he instead chose to take the hard way, refusing to suffer the consequences of his skin tone. He firmly asserts and fights for the belief that he has rights equal to any other and justice will prevail for him.
He's fully aware that he's representing something larger than himself by taking such a resolute stand. He knows that if he emerges from this struggle victorious, this instance will be cited again and again and will hopefully begin to set a precedent for the rights of African Americans in the future. Presenting himself as a respectable, well-off man, he demands to be taken seriously. Doctorow certainly seems to, judging by his lack of irony about Coalhouse and his distancing himself from the events to make them flow as organically as possible.
Doctorow doesn't condone Coalhouse's murders and destruction of property, but he does appear to deem it necessary. Coalhouse has thoroughly demonstrated that, alone, he has pretty much exhausted all possible legal means of getting his justice. Nonetheless, I feel he was fully prepared, and unfortunately expecting, to escalate the situation. He couldn't just give up and accept defeat, his single mission was to restore his dignity and make a push toward African American civil rights. He's not some crazed psychopath who just snapped one day, he's actually being very transparent with his desires and making the conditions of his war very clear. He doesn't want to have to fight it, but he feels as though he must, and for it to have any meaning at all it needs to be as public as possible. The bombings of the firehouses hold the public's attention and the car is a tangible thing that he wants people to see and feel for, as though it were a martyr of some sort.
The violence shouldn't be necessary, but racism is extremely ugly. Coalhouse is now waiting for the authorities to 'just give him his car and justice' instead of spending all the effort to pursue him in parallel to how they originally wanted him to 'just pay the $25.' The war was certainly starting to work in his favor too, as "Will Conklin became a despised person everywhere." (219) Coalhouse is tired of waiting for his justice and has now willfully become the leader of a movement, and as far as I can tell, he's playing this out as best as he possibly could.
Interesting take on this part of the book! I agree that Coalhouse's actions have some justification, even though ideally violence wouldn't have to take place. In this situation, I think that we as readers have to be careful to differentiate between how we read a scene, and what the writer actually puts on the page. I think your thoughts on the situation may very well be true, but it is hard for me to make my mind up about it. While I am not saying that any claims you make are untrue, I think that there are other possible interpretations. For instance, I am not completely sure of Coalhouse's motives for deciding not to pay the $25. He may be standing up for himself because he sees it as an issue of justice regarding racism. However, I think another possibility is that he simply has a lot of pride and doesn't want to give into racism for more individual reasons. Also, how can we know Doctorow's opinions about the incident for sure? Many times when describing the incident, he seems to just be stating the facts, rather than showing any sort of bias. Really, we cannot be completely sure of the answers since Doctorow does seem to keep his distance throughout his description of the incident. He doesn't tell us exactly how Coalhouse or the narrator feel about the situation, which is why we have to debate on these questions in the first place.
ReplyDeleteYour note about previous encounters with the tolls of racism is interesting. I think we all agree that Coalhouse is taking the hard way by standing instead of paying the $25 or turning the car around. I've never considered before, however, this encounter as being "different," as you put it, a first refusal to submit. To me, it seems more aligned with Coalhouse's character to have always taken a firm stand against any racist run-ups, but this one has just escalated drastically.
ReplyDeleteLike Ella mentioned, I'm also having trouble settling upon his motivation. Racism, justice, pride all rolled into one? But I do agree with you that Coalhouse is now playing it out as best as he can. Whatever his motivations, he's gotten in to a point where he can't really just step down or out of the frame anymore. Having a group behind him and the public pointed against Conklin is a pretty good status.
Good post, Andy! I think you bring up a good point that Coalhouse isn't just in this for just himself anymore, even if that's what his original motives were directed for; he really is representing the African-American community with his actions. It's interesting how Doctorow brings Booker T. Washington in to actually vocalize his disappointment with what Coalhouse is attempting to do, and how his actions are deplorable. There really were two (or three, if you set aside Malcolm X's philosophy) sides of things when it came to the struggle for Civil Rights: active militancy and the legislative "assimilation" that Washington was fighting to go through with. I'm really glad that Doctorow wasn't one-sided in presenting the options that African-Americans had in the fight for equality, though it can still be a shaky topic when choosing an objectively "right" manner of going about things.
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