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Reverend Homer A. Barbee is a preacher from Chicago who speaks at the narrator’s southern college as a part of their Founder’s Day celebrations. Although the narrator does not have any personal interactions with him, listening to his speech has a significant impact on the way in which he views both his current predicament and the school as a whole. Barbee tells the story of the Founder, the creation of the school, and its legacy, and he does so in the voice of a stereotypical Southern preacher. Ironically, his passionate delivery does not evoke the same kind of expressive emotional response that often characterizes Black church services. Barbee’s deep commitment to the Founder and his ideals make the narrator feel incredibly guilty, but the silence that permeates the room suggests that his rhetorical approach has less of an impact on the rest of his audience. Especially for a school whose curriculum seems to advocate for mimicking the behavior and attitudes of whites, Barbee’s references to Black culture seem out of place.
Part of the disconnect between Barbee and his audience stems from the fact that he is blind, a detail which has literal as well as figurative implications. In a practical sense, Barbee’s blindness means that he cannot see how his audience is responding to his speech, nor can he see the types of people who make up his audience. He carries on without realizing that the culture of the school has evolved since the days of its founding. Even more importantly, however, Barbee’s blindness symbolizes the shortsightedness of the Founder’s “vision.” Given that sight becomes a key theme throughout the remainder of the novel, the fact that Barbee cannot see suggests that his message, which is essentially to follow authority without question, is impractical. The lessons that students take away from the school do not set them up for genuine success, rendering them metaphorically invisible instead. Ellison further emphasizes Barbee’s significance through his first name, Homer. This choice serves as an allusion to the ancient Greek poet Homer who, despite allegedly being blind, wrote epics about legendary heroes. Barbee fills a similar role by attempting to elevate the Founder to a legendary status in his speech, although his blindness reflects the absurdity of this positive characterization.
