After being forced to leave Harlem, IM becomes a lecturer for the Women's Question downtown. He attends his first lecture, excited and confident of audience interest because of the topic of the role of women in the Brotherhood. He feels that if he were larger and more powerful he would be a success if he just stood there with a sign "I know all about them." The audience would see him as the "original boogey man," something from nightmares that has been tamed and caged. He bases his success on the audience's enthusiasm. Then he is waylaid by a female temptress who wishes to discuss the ideology of the Brotherhood. Realizing that it is late, the woman offers to discuss her problems another time. However, IM, still dutiful to the Brotherhood, offers to discuss it then and the woman invites him to her house.

The woman is white but has black hair which makes her more approachable than blondes. However, even in her black hair there is a streak of white.

The woman's house is in a wealthy neighborhood and she admits to IM that she has wealth and time for leisure but is left unsatisfied because of the poor state of affairs the world is in. IM wonders whether she is one of the many seeking to contribute money to ease their political consciences.

The color red permeates the scene: the woman changes into a scarlet robe, the furniture has a "cherry glow" (411), and there is a pink Renoir nude. Red, a color of passion, foreshadows the events of the chapter.

The woman talks about her husband, Hubert, and IM begins to sense a hidden agenda. While he is apprehensive, he is excited by her wealth, her smile, and the idea that although she is wealthy and economically superior, they are both human.

He is kept off balance when she avoids discussing the ideology of the Brotherhood and instead offers him a choice of wine or milk in addition to coffee. After, toasting the Brotherhood, she explains that she wants to know about all aspects of it as it exudes a vitality and a purpose. IM admits that the Brotherhood is the most important thing that he has been involved in.

The woman then surprises IM when she says she feels safe with him and fearful of him because of the primitive qualities of his voice which make his speeches more powerful. He explains that although his speeches create emotion, the goal of the Brotherhood is to organize that emotion. The woman flatters him by telling him that he is able to do both in his speeches and that she understands his message. She believes women should have the same equality as men. IM, hearing her talk about freedom, realizes that he is not free to leave as he wants to; his duty to the Brotherhood keeps him there. When she asks him about why he no longer is speaking on minority problems, he explains that women's issues are now some of the main focuses of the Brotherhood. This foreshadows the abandonment of Harlem and of minorities later in the book. As he is talking, the woman is inching closer and then they kiss. Hearing a bell, he breaks away and tries to leave, but the woman pulls him instead towards her bedroom. When he reminds her of her husband, she explains that he is away in Chicago and that he does not embrace the ideals of the Brotherhood. She urges IM to stay with her and teach her about the Brotherhood. IM wants to hit her and sleep with her and fears that either way he will be destroyed by cameras waiting to catch him. He tries to escape without touching her because he will not be able to control himself and will either sleep with her or hit her if he touches her. She answers the phone and has a brief conversation with her sister Gwen; while talking she opens her robe and reveals her nudity to him. IM, waiting for her, recalls tales of the mistress' seducing black slaves and Pullman Porters. IM remembers stories of porters' being summoned by rich wives on trains. However, he reassures himself that since they are part of the Brotherhood that this situation must be different. IM is stopped by the woman as he tries to leave and his excitement overcomes his anger, and even his duty to the Brotherhood cannot stop him from wanting her. While lying in her bed, he hears a noise and awakens to her husband's return. However, the husband is not angry or interested in the scene of his wife's betrayal and merely reminds her to wake him early because he has a busy day. She says good night to her husband, and he wishes her and her lover the same. This is symbolic of the promiscuity of the rich. IM, confused by the man's response, leaves quickly and silently, afraid of waking the woman for fear that she will scream and fight him in order to deny in the morning what happened at night. He then fears during the rest of the early morning and subsequent day retribution for his night of passion, and he wonders if the woman were not a ploy from enemies of the Brotherhood to tempt him with Eve and thus seal his expulsion from the Brotherhood. He is shackled to his fear and unable to work, which is symbolized by Brother Tarp's leg iron. He decides at four o'clock that he will not face retribution for his actions and calls the woman who does not acknowledge the night or her husband. As a result IM does not bring it up and lets it fade. He continues to be wary the following week and strives to keep his composure as the only guilty black in the meetings where he is surrounded by whites. He continues lecturing, and girls continue to flock to him. He notices that they are more concerned with him than with the ideas he dispenses. However, he does not sleep again with a member of the Brotherhood.

IM talks about how the crowd seems to be waiting for him to reveal something, proof of the redemption of the Brotherhood that they do not expect from other black speakers. He cannot understand why they expect this from him and so he places it out of his mind.

Awakened one night while preparing for a lecture, Iman is summoned by a phone call to an emergency meeting. He is certain that they have discovered his relationship with the woman and that he will be expelled from the Brotherhood because he was human and could not resist her. Arriving late, he enters the sweltering room and learns that he is no longer to lecture on the Women's Question. He fears they know the truth. Then he is asked about the whereabouts of Brother Tod Clifton as it appears that he has disappeared into Harlem and left the Brotherhood to flounder. IM, relieved that he is not suspect for his night of passion, forgets to ask if the police have been notified. He feels a sense of foreboding over Clifton's disappearance because he is so responsible and dedicated to the Brotherhood. This foreshadows his reappearance later in the novel. As a result IM returns to Harlem and with the help of the Brotherhood combats Ras the Exhorter and his gang which has been gaining power. IM wonders about Ras's complicity in Clifton's disappearance and how Ras has gained so much support in an area dominated by the Brotherhood a month ago. He feels that his efforts not to offend the committee by severing his ties to Harlem were useless because he now has no idea what could have changed things so dramatically in a month. He describes his return to Harlem and people who are black as awakening from a deep sleep. This feeling of reawakening comes from the fact that he has existed for a month unconscious of the activities of those in Harlem.

Major Themes: The major themes of this chapter are
Temptation of desire for the woman over duty to the Brotherhood; and prejudice in the woman's use of IM in the night and disregard of him during the day.
Race/ light and Dark, the husband, Hubert, is in the light and IM is in the dark
Invisibility, her husband does not see him
Temptation, he desires the woman
Woman as the seductress who brings the downfall of man
Loyalty and duty, to the Brotherhood vs. desire, of the woman
Reverse prejudice (instead of being considered less of a man because he is black, he is considered more of a man because he is black)
Also previous themes are alluded to:
Dreams
Sleep
Reality

by Megan McSeveney