Breakin' Macon
The last segment of Angry Black White Boy, chapter 10 through the end of book III, is about the failure and collapse of Macon Everett Detornay. Or perhaps, it's the resurgence of Macon Everett Detornay after Macon's previous experiences and attempts made as The Franchise.
The start of Macon's fall is during the Day of Apology. After the Columbia Police shepherd most of the attendees out of the way, leaving only the uninformed, the ones who were in it for the free lunch, and the guilt-laden. Macon tries to engage them, expecting that they are open to receive his message, but he fails, and is left totally speechless for the first time in the whole book. He storms off to one of the bathrooms in a huff, and Andre and Nique are left to try and salvage the Day.
Meanwhile, outside, the situation has degenerated. People critical of the aims and potential outcomes of the Day, people disappointed with the lackluster results, people who just wanted the T-shirt turn the situation from an event to a riot. Property damage, burning cars, bullets ricocheting wildly, all in and redirected towards Harlem. When Macon comes back and sees everything that he has wrought, he basically loses his will to keep going keep trying. Nique tells him to commit suicide, but Macon fails to go through with it. He makes a statement on public TV telling everyone that he's giving up, neither he nor his audience had what it takes to make a real change, that he's a coward and a sellout, and that there's no stopping the riot, so people might as well join in.
Drained and just wanting to get away, Macon takes a bus (intending to go to LA, but actually going to Alabama) and buys a sleeping pill from a sketchy guy on the way knocking himself out. At this point, Macon seems to be in a pretty major depressive mood, wanting to just be gone. Immediately after getting out, he is approached by the Deus Ex Machina, piloted by Conway Donner with a job offer/racial reeducation program because of Macon's demonstrated skill in whipping up a crowd and getting people talking. However, Macon refuses, because he believed in his previous cause but he says "I don't even wanna be me, or not me" and "I just wanna go the fuck to sleep" with no more drive available to him.
At the very end of the book, Macon dies. The final line is very ambiguous, unclear whether Macon joining his ancestors means that he ended up back on board with Cap Anson, or if it's a mythic sort of martyring. In the hours leading up to his death, Macon (almost) completely gives up on his ideals, selling himself out to Burleigh and his friends. Even when he turns the gun on Burleigh, he still fails.
Ultimately, when Macon has the gun against his head, it's Nique and Johnnie protesting, not Macon.
(Except for the word "No" and its ambiguous speaker, possibly being Macon saying that he isn't dying for a cause.)
The start of Macon's fall is during the Day of Apology. After the Columbia Police shepherd most of the attendees out of the way, leaving only the uninformed, the ones who were in it for the free lunch, and the guilt-laden. Macon tries to engage them, expecting that they are open to receive his message, but he fails, and is left totally speechless for the first time in the whole book. He storms off to one of the bathrooms in a huff, and Andre and Nique are left to try and salvage the Day.
Meanwhile, outside, the situation has degenerated. People critical of the aims and potential outcomes of the Day, people disappointed with the lackluster results, people who just wanted the T-shirt turn the situation from an event to a riot. Property damage, burning cars, bullets ricocheting wildly, all in and redirected towards Harlem. When Macon comes back and sees everything that he has wrought, he basically loses his will to keep going keep trying. Nique tells him to commit suicide, but Macon fails to go through with it. He makes a statement on public TV telling everyone that he's giving up, neither he nor his audience had what it takes to make a real change, that he's a coward and a sellout, and that there's no stopping the riot, so people might as well join in.
Drained and just wanting to get away, Macon takes a bus (intending to go to LA, but actually going to Alabama) and buys a sleeping pill from a sketchy guy on the way knocking himself out. At this point, Macon seems to be in a pretty major depressive mood, wanting to just be gone. Immediately after getting out, he is approached by the Deus Ex Machina, piloted by Conway Donner with a job offer/racial reeducation program because of Macon's demonstrated skill in whipping up a crowd and getting people talking. However, Macon refuses, because he believed in his previous cause but he says "I don't even wanna be me, or not me" and "I just wanna go the fuck to sleep" with no more drive available to him.
At the very end of the book, Macon dies. The final line is very ambiguous, unclear whether Macon joining his ancestors means that he ended up back on board with Cap Anson, or if it's a mythic sort of martyring. In the hours leading up to his death, Macon (almost) completely gives up on his ideals, selling himself out to Burleigh and his friends. Even when he turns the gun on Burleigh, he still fails.
Ultimately, when Macon has the gun against his head, it's Nique and Johnnie protesting, not Macon.
(Except for the word "No" and its ambiguous speaker, possibly being Macon saying that he isn't dying for a cause.)
I would agree that Macon has basically given up by the end of the book. He tried to start a revolution but failed terribly. I don't have any high praises for Macon, however, but I wish that he would have lived. Maybe he could have gone through all of this ordeal and come out of it being a better leader.
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