I Am Hip Chapter Summary

The “I Am Hip” chapter of the 1970 novel takes somewhat of a different turn. The two characters known as the ministers of information for Black Panther Party Party and the Red Guard (an Asian pro-communist organization) are discussing their past in a hotel room in the USSR and are planning to travel throughout Communist Asia. They hope to ultimately meet up with Mao Zedong. The Red Guard Party’s Minister of Information, also known as “RG” for short, talks about his past. He explains that he toured with Janis Joplin and was a part of the hippie movement, taking drugs and protesting the Vietnam War. The chapter eventually ends with RG recalling the story of when he walked into a military recruiting station and exclaimed that he ‘wished to be
In the “And this will conclude our transmission from the International Hotel” chapter, we are introduced to many characters who are less known and recognizable compared to the others. This chapter is told through a radio transmission by the character Arthur and describes the violent end to the Hotel. The final tenants are now left to fend for themselves on the streets as they are forced from their homes. Ultimately, the Hotel is set to be destroyed and sold in exchange for gentrification. One of the residents was quotes as saying: "I am crippled, and I am deaf, and I am very old. I am alone here, and they put me in the street. I want freedom, the principle of American democracy in the richest country in the world. Do you think our mayor has a place for me? No. No. Because I was happy here". Obviously, the hotel as held significant meaning for each of its residents – despite it being sometimes mystifying or complex. In essence, the hotel may have been shut down and its residents enduring a bloody protest, but in the end, it was the only option they had left apart from their previous futile efforts in non-violent