When the Narrator goes to the paint factory, I didn't expect much to happen. But right when he gets there, with the slogans and the manner in which Mr. MacDuffy treats him, we know he's in for something. Then the narrator gets to Kimbro. Kimbro is a busy man, so busy that he, "won't have time to stop and explain everything." (Ellison 199). He doesn't explain to the Narrator what he is doing, just that he has to do it, and that he has to do it quickly. The task the Narrator is assigned is to put ten drops of dope into white paint and stir it until it disappears. Unfortunately for the Narrator, he refills the dropper with the wrong dope, and messes up the product, though Kimbro doesn't catch it the second time.
The metaphors in this scene are quite striking. Liberty Paint's signature color, Optic White, is supposed to be the whitest white in the world. Now, something is wrong with it, so to fix it, they must put in a black substance to return it to its natural shine. But not the wrong black stuff, like what the Narrator accidently does, because then the black stuff will partially overpower the optic white, and you'll be left with an ugly grey. That black stuff the Narrator took was in fact concentrated remover. I took this as saying, without people like the Narrator (at this point in his life), the whites couldn't be so much in control, but if people like the Vet were to be publicized it would totally mess up society. He would strip away all the infrastructure built up to keep the status qua the same, the whites on top, with the whites choosing which black people can escape share cropping. The only problem is that to most whites, those two types of people appear the same, so much like with the dope, the whites are fearful of whomever they choose to support, because they don't know which one will help cement their place, and which group will remove their hold on power.
The whites don't want that grey tinge, but they also can't see it when it's there. When Kimbro comes back to check on the Narrator, he only discovers the mistake by, "Smearing his finger over one of the samples. 'This stuff's still wet!'" (Ellison 203). Yet when he returns a second time, "Holding it close to his face, he ran his fingers over the surface and squinted at the texture. 'That's more like it,' he said. 'That's the way it oughta be.'" (Ellison 205). The Narrator still notices the grey tinge that transcends the optic white, though Kimbro doesn't see it, or maybe doesn't want to see it. If that grey is there, he loses money and maybe even his job. On a broader scale, though people like Dr. Bledsoe exist, that are visible in the world of whites, maybe there are more that aren't spoken of, because the whites are afraid to admit that more black people are near their level, and in turn they aren't the only ones in control. Or maybe, this is just another reference to invisibility, the black people in power are invisible to whites, there is a part of their mind that just can't or won't allow them to see that grey tinge in society, that they fear so much.
Great article! You did well elaborating on the analogy between society and Liberty Paints. I like that you extended it to Dr. Bledsoe. I hadn't thought of him as forming that grey area as in depth before. Do you think there's importance in the wrong black dope being concetrated remover? Perhaps, are the "wrong" black people who are feared and ignored in society really concentrated removers (or revolutionists?), feared because they take away from the value of white in power? Again - excellent job building on this metaphor.
ReplyDeleteI think the black drops within the white paint are very, very significant, nice job on picking up on that. This whole novel is stuffed to the brim with symbolism, and given the rest of the chapter as a vague, dreamlike allegory, I think the blackness that somehow makes the white whiter is related to the character of Brockway. He sits below the factory, and makes the base to the paint, which is then used by the government, the establishment itself. However, Brockway, this old black man who is integral to the development of the pure white paint, is unknown to almost everyone at the plant. In a strange way, he himself is the few drops of black that makes the white paint whiter. The narrator might be the "wrong black," as you put it, because he certainly screws the job up. This chapter can be read in many different ways, though, so your guess is as good as mine.
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