Imperium in Imperio

Content Warning: This text contains racist language, including racial expletives, and violence, as well as depictions of oppression, enslavement, and death by suicide. This study guide quotes and obscures the author’s use of the n-word.

One motif of the text is the dangerous yet humorous situations that Belton gets into through his own choices, which are exacerbated by the institutionalized racism and injustice of the time. Two such examples—Belton getting caught in the chicken coop spying on the teachers and the dirty sock in his pocket at graduation—are brought about by actions that Belton takes, which could be considered foolish, giving them ironic humor, but which serve to explore themes and teach lessons to Belton, ultimately developing his character into a tragic hero.

In the first incident, Belton discovers that there is a Black teacher who is vice president, holding some power over the other teachers. In order to listen in on their meeting and see this for himself, he sneaks up to the window to watch. The incident is described in a humorous way, with the woman throwing “up her hands and scream[ing] loudly from fright,” and Belton turning to flee and “unthinkingly jump[ing] into the chicken house” (20). Despite the humorous way it is written, the situation is rather dangerous for Belton, as he is a young Black man outside a window at night, listening in on a meeting of mostly white women. Stressed by the narrator is the reaction of the teachers; instead of being afraid or angry, he writes that they “laughed heartily at their fright and resumed deliberations [and assume] a race that dreams of freedom, equality, and empire, far more than is imagined, is […] a race of chicken thieves” (21). In other words, this incident serves to not only provide comedic relief, but also to show the way in which educated white men see Black people. They are ignored to their desire for equality and their dreams, and instead treat them simply as “chicken thieves.”

In the next, Belton is set to give a graduation speech, but his jealous roommate decides to replace his handkerchief with a dirty sock. The boy from whom the roommate steals the sock is described as “noted for his immense height and for the size and scent of his feet,” which are “exceedingly offensive” (25). When the roommate goes to steal the socks, the situation is described in a humorous way, as the student takes off his socks in an effort to get the roommate to leave, and even pretends to snore loudly, but eventually gives up “the battle in disgust” (27), allowing the roommate to steal the sock. This situation, as well as the way that Belton is seen pulling a dirty sock from his coat to wipe his eyes, is humorous to the reader. However, it also serves a larger purpose, as he attributes the prank to his “revengeful act that he had perpetrated upon his first teacher […] com[ing] home to roost” (40). When the president comes to visit Belton, he stresses the importance of not seeking revenge and instead leaving it to God, an important lesson in the text that would again be used when Belton votes against Bernard’s plan in the Imperium.

The motif of Belton’s humorous missteps is used throughout the text, especially in these two incidents, to add comedic relief to the text but also to convey larger themes and lessons for Belton. In addition to these, other incidents—such as his efforts to help a white woman in church leading to his lynching or reading in the first class of a train only to be angrily thrown off by a group of white men—contain both humor and irony and work together to portray Belton as a tragic hero. No matter how intelligent, hardworking, or honorable he is, luck and happenstance, in addition to downright racism, regularly throw his life off course, yet he is determined to remain faithful to humanity and harmony among white and Black people.