The Power of the Yam
The Power of the Yam Addison McClure At the beginning of chapter 13 the narrator has an intense realization as he eats a yam he has purchased at a street vendor. The yam he purchases is described in great detail. He says he could already see it was sweet because “bubbles of brown syrup had broken burst the skin”. This is obviously a food that he is fond of. The narrator after biting into the yam is suddenly catapulted into a flurry of thoughts. He first feels homesick. The yam is a taste he remembers from his childhood. The homesickness transitions into an overwhelming feeling of freedom. He feels in control of himself. The narrator unapologetically eats the yam and he imagines confronting those who once mocked him. He then spirals into a fantasy of confronting Bledsoe and exposing him to the world. He makes himself laugh at the thought of Bledsoe crumbling with his facade. He continues his train of thought contemplating how him proudly eating a yam gives him power. One passage f