Despite the objections of the dickties, who prefer to ignore the existence of the so-called rats, it is of interest to consider Henry Patmore’s Pool Parlor on Fifth Avenue in New York.
This quote is the opening line of the novel. It immediately sets the stage for the primary thematic exploration at work in the novel. That would be the effects and consequences of class division among African-Americans in Harlem. The class division is represented by the dickties—upper-class professionals—the lower working class represented as the rats. It is, of course, not merely a division of economic strata. The dickties are not just professionals—or, that is to say—are partly successful as professionals because their skin pigmentation is lighter than the darker-complexioned rats. As is the case in many stories by Fisher—and a common thread running through early 20th century African-American literature—pigmentation is uniquely tied to the ability to find a measure of success among white society.
“Well,” commented Langdon, an innocent looking youngster who was at heart a prime rascal and who compensated by writing, poetry, “if Fred will just keep his hat on, none of his neighbors will know he’s a shine.”
In prefatory material, a “shine” is denoted as a “put upon, honest and simple Negro.” It is another example of the way that social differentiations are represented within the African-American community. This is significant because much of the literature of the Harlem Renaissance is dedicated to a certain extent to revealing that “black America” is not a reference to be made monolithically. While white society may have then—and even now to a much lesser extent—have made this misassumption, the literature of the movement makes it clear that “black America” was actually quite a simmering melting pot in and of and within itself. Another important reference is made to the reality of the Harlem Renaissance deeply informing this novel in the character doing the speaking. The poetry-writing rascal named Langdon is based at least in part upon one of the more titanic figures to loom over the history of the Harlem Renaissance, the similarly-named (and described) Langston Hughes.
That’s what we Negroes need, a business class, an economic backbone. What kind of a social structure can anybody have with nothing but the extremes—bootblacks on one end and doctors on the other. Nothing in between. No substance. Everybody wants to quit waiting table and start writing prescriptions right away.
The titular walls of Jericho are metaphorical, of course. The literal Wall of Jericho traces back eight millennia before the birth of Christ. That’s millennia—a thousand years—not centuries. The most famous story about the wall is that involving Old Testament Biblical hero Joshua. The relationship between the actual purpose and the Biblical purpose is convoluted and complex to say the least, but it’s appropriate because the metaphorical version here is also rather complex. The easiest and most facile way of explaining it would be to situate the “walls of Jericho” as the barrier or obstruction to African-Americans exploiting the promises of American capitalist free enterprise to enhance and improve their own lives and situations.
Such a description would naturally lead one to easily assume that this means the wall is a construction entirely of white society for the motivation of satisfying white society. The reality is much more complicated with its suggestion that the social hierarchies and economic division within African-American society is just as much as contribution to the barriers of attaining success. This quote directly speaks to the complexity facing blacks in their attempts to fight the modern battle of Jericho and cause the wall to come tumbling down.
