The narrator's grandparents were freed slaves who believed they were separate but equal after the Civil War. His grandfather lived a meek and quiet life after being freed. However, on his deathbed, he tells the narrator's father that the lives of black Americans are a 'war' and that he himself feels like a traitor. He counsels the narrator's father to undermine the whites with 'yeses' and 'grins.' He advises his family to 'agree 'em …showed first 75 words of 4771 total…

…showed last 75 words of 4771 total…actually offering his own 'fatherly advice.' He is telling the narrator to define his own identity, while simult aneously defining it for him. The narrator is on an archetypal journey. Like thousands of black Americans, he joins the Great Migration North looking for freedom. He marvels at the variety and vibrancy of Harlem. He sees Ras making an inflammatory speech in the street calling the b lack Harlem residents to drive out the whites,