Suppose something should go wrong?
Max was “trembling with excitement and anxiety.” “Suppose something should go wrong?” Suppose Mr. Crookman “should make a mistake?” He thought about his old life he was about to give up. He thought of “the Elks’ excursion every summer to Bear Mountain,” his ex-girlfriend “yellow Minnie,” “her colorful apartment,” “the pleasant evenings at the Dahomey Casino,” “the Honky Tonk Club,” and he “hesitated.” Max had not thought about his decision well enough. Then he envisioned his future “as a white man,” probably “as the husband of the tall blond of Atlanta.” And “with firm resolve, he entered the door of the mysterious chamber.”
Are you surprised that he sold out?
His new skin color helped Matthew (Max) to realize that he used to be wrong about many different things in his life. His old friend, Bunny, was rather shocked to find out that many black leaders had “sold out.” As soon as that “race stuff” had stopped bringing them profit, they had reconsidered their views on misfortunes of black people and changed their skin colors too. The whole situation was mad! Matthew, who used to be black, became a member of the Knights of Nordica. That was his “high strategy.” “To drag down the jack” was his main goal.
Bunny, I have learned something on this job, and that is that hatred and prejudice always go over big.
Matthew is a rather smart man. Of course he makes mistakes, just like any other person, but he is an adept strategist. Matthew is clever enough to use people’s ignorance for his own benefit. He has “learned something on this job,” and that is that “hatred and prejudice always go over big.” White supremacists “have been raised on the Negro problem,” they are “used to it,” they are “trained to react to it.” There is no need to rack a brain “to hunt up something else” when he can “use a dodge that’s always delivered the goods.”
