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While walking the streets of New York City, the narrator comes into contact with a yam vendor. As the sweet scent of yams reaches the Invisible Man's nose, they "[brought] a stab of swift nostaligia." This wonderful smell takes the narrator back to a time when he was young and with his loved ones. The Invisible Man remembers the inocence of youth, as he and his classmates snuck yams into their class. At this thorugh, the narrator purchased a yam and as he devoured it, a "surge of homesickness that [he] turned away to keep [his] control." Ellison uses the yam to symbolize the South, the home that the narrator once knew and loved. These memories all led back to one person who had a tremendous affect on the IM's life - Dr. Bledsoe. As the narrator finished the remaining yams, he dreams of confronting Dr. Bledose and calling him a "shameless chitterling eater." Thinking of everything that had happened in his life, the narrator was filled with anger. This anger prompted him to laugh as he continued ridiculing Dr. Bledsoe. He began to realize that he did not care about what the docotro thought, in fact, he did not care about eating in front o