In chapter 17 the scene that captured my attention the most is the confrontation of Ras the Exhorter, his men, the narrator, and Todd. This scene captured my attention mainly because of the violent climax after the build up of the characters and their motives. .
When we fist get to know Ras the Exhorter and his cause I thought that Ras" idea that was that of a non-cooperative society between blacks and whites was just ridiculous and his method of demonstrating his cause was just horrible. Now I"m not saying that violence is terrible because lets be honest we all crave a little violence in our lives, but there was just something about Ras and his men going out and hurting people of their own race who are trying to further promote equality that didn't sit right with me. I don't really understand why Ras wants no mingling of races or why he thinks it's a good idea to beat the crap out of a guy just trying to make life better for all black people. Ras and his movement kind of remind me of Garvey and his back to Africa movement. Not so much the violent acts but the idea that blacks should not cooperate with whites. I"m not too sure if this was an attempt to portray Garvey or not but their separation idea is similar.
In the "epic battle scene", as I like to refer to it, you could probably smell the trouble brewing in the air. Now the reason I really like this part is not because of it description or its great use of language, blah blah blah, but because it's a situation that everyone should be able to relate to. Think about it this way. Say you and your friend are hanging out at the bar or even coming back from the bar and you see two other people that you really don't get along with. The tension in the air is high and your adrenalin is flowing. Maybe you don't want a problem or maybe you do. In that situation either way it's only going to take the littlest thing to set it off. Maybe it's a stare a gesture or whatever but when the signal is given fist will start flying.