Previous
Grace
Otis is a Black child and one of Jesse’s friends when he was eight years old. Before the lynching, in a flashback, a young Jesse worries that he has not seen Otis for a couple mornings and wishes that he could ask Otis what was happening since “Otis knew everything.” Otis does not directly appear in the story, but Jesse’s care and respect for him as a child shows how white people are not born racist but taught to be so.
Otis Quotes in Going to Meet the Man
The Going to Meet the Man quotes below are all either spoken by Otis or refer to Otis. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Going to Meet the Man Quotes
Their friends, in other cars, stretched up the road as far as he could see; other cars had joined them; there were cars behind them. They were singing. The sun seemed, suddenly, very hot, and he was, at once very happy and a little afraid. He did not quite understand what was happening, and he did not know what to ask—he had no one to ask. He had grown accustomed, for the solution of such mysteries, to go to Otis. He felt that Otis knew everything. But he could not ask Otis about this.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
This passage takes place in a flashback—Jesse is eight years old and in the car with his parents on the way to witness a lynching. That Jesse does not understand what is happening suggests that this will be the first lynching he has attended. This is significant because the lynching becomes a pivotal event in pushing Jesse toward embracing racism. Here, though, Jesse thinks fondly of his Black friend Otis. Otis is not only someone Jesse cares about, but is also someone he respects intellectually—“Otis knew everything.” This is a far cry from how Jesse feels about Black people as Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perfer
Get the entire Going to Meet the Man LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
Otis Character Timeline in Going to Meet the Man
The timeline below shows where the character Otis appears in Going to Meet the Man. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Going to Meet the Man
...way, but he instead becomes more animated, whistling and mocking the singers. Jesse thinks about Otis, a Black friend his age with whom he plays. Suddenly the thought of Otis makes...
(full context)
Jesse says that he didn’t see Otis this morning, though he’s not sure why he says it. Jesse’s mother responds that he...
(full context)
Jesse has questions he wants to ask, such as “Will Otis be there?” but he doesn’t ask them because, in an odd way, he feels he...
(full context)
