How would you interpret this sentence?
How would you interpret this sentence ‘it must be either all or nothing’ in the last passage?
I think the man meant that they wanted all the rights and if not, they would rather want no right. What do you think?
Thanks! It’s from The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by McCullers.the context:
Doctor Copeland coughed and spat into one of the squares of paper which he kept beneath his pillow. ‘I have a program. It is a very simple, concentrated plan. I mean to focus on only one objective. In August of this year I plan to lead more than one thousand Negroes in this county on a march. A march to Washington. All of us together in one solid body. If you will look in the cabinet yonder you will see a stack of letters which I have written this week and will deliver personally.’ Doctor Copeland slid his nervous hands up and down the sides of the narrow bed.
‘You remember what I said to you a short while ago? You will recall that my only advice to you was: Do not attempt to stand alone.’
‘I get it,’ Jake said.
‘But once you enter this it must be all. First and foremost. Your work now and forever. You must give of your whole self without stint, without hope of personal return, without rest or hope of rest.’
‘For the rights of the Negro in the South.’
‘In the South and here in this very county. And it must be either all or nothing. Either yes or no.’