Why is the grandfather's speech important?

The speech
is also important in relation to W.E.B. DuBois's concept of "double-consciousness"that
is, having one's own sense of identity but also being obligated to behave according to the
expectations of white supremacy. The narrator's grandfather encourages him to placate white
people, to behave according to their expectations. Both the narrator and the grandfather know
that this obsequious behavior is a ruse.

What is ironic about the speech is
that the narrator's grandfather believes that the maintenance of this ruse is a part of
"the good fight." The "fight," in other words, is the will to survive in a
system that is bent on killing black men. Thus, the narrator's grandfather is telling him to
satisfy white expectations, however demeaning, so that he can live.

The
grandfather implies that he has been complicit in a system that has attempted to diminish his
manhood. When he states that he has been "a spy in the enemy's country" ever since he
put down his gun during Reconstruction,...