Richard is so eager to learn and so consistently suppressed, it is incredible to see how resilient the imagination can be. He won't stop asking questions, and if he gets no answers, his imagination takes over, providing what reality conceals. In this chapter, we see him becoming aware of his condition in symbolic terms. He is affected emotionally by the things that happen to him; but, without answers to his questions about these events, they are only symbols.
The more he grows and travels, the more he becomes conscious of race. The murder of one uncle and the threat of death to another by whites both of these intensify the fear that has been growing in him slowly but surely. As this fear increases for the enemy is real Richard becomes superstitious. He has lists of antidotes to real and unreal dangers. Unable to perform when called upon shy, but still rebellious his imagination plays a larger and larger role in his life. It is his escape hatch into a better world or into oblivion; it is also the armor he wears against the wounds inflicted by the society he lives in.
