Discuss the narrator’s transformation as a result of his accident at the Liberty Paint Factory.
When we were first introduced to the narrator, he was what we now call a "goody two-shoes." He followed all of the rules and never challenged authority. Most importantly, he aspired to please everyone, including white people. After his accident at the Liberty Paint Company, he developed a new personality. Something changed drastically. He shed his timid and overly cautious attitude for some much needed self confidence. The opinions of others no longer mattered. Instead of trying desperately to bury certain feelings, he decided to embrace them! I must say, I like the new narrator. It was time for him to break free of the chains of conformity. As a result of his newly found confidence, our narrator actually spoke out against an act of wrong doing. He came upon an elderly couple being evicted and having all their dearest possessions being thrown out into the street. The old narrator would have walked on for fear of obstructing justice. That was not the case with the new narrator. He saw that the couple were being treated unjustly and acted out according to his feelings. Due to this event, we discovered that he was an excellent orator. He could inspire a group of people to implement change with just a few words. Honestly, I think that his accident was a blessing. The narrator's new personality could move mountains. Hopefully, there will be great things in his future.
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Mrs. Hulsey
7/21/2012 02:29:58 am
Good analysis little Laurel, but you need a little more evidence next time. Quotes, quotes, quotes!
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laurel bell
7/25/2012 04:09:22 am
Thank you! I'm sorry if I don't have much evidence in my next post. I had already done July 28 post when I read your comment. But I will be sure to add more the next time!
DaValyee' McGee
7/24/2012 11:51:49 pm
Two thumbs up Laurel, this is great!:) Especially on the part when you prefer the "new and improved" narrator rather than the "goody two-shoes" one. I also agree with you when you state your opinion on the terrible accident, and that it was sort of a blessing for the narrator. I mean even if the ordeal didn't fully liberate our narrator, he still feels "free" than most. Our new narrator doesn't feel he needs to be compelled to that obscure sense of respect. Instead our narrator feels stronger and no longer afraid!
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wesley hughes
7/25/2012 01:40:19 am
Good points Laurel. The narrator was way too up tight and stuck to conformity in the beginning, which is totally different than he is after the accident. I agree his accident was a blessing to him because otherwise he would still be stuck in his same old rut that led him to being pushed around and treated wrongly by others. Now he has the courage and ability to control his fate and others as well.
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Daryl Hall
8/1/2012 11:41:57 am
I like your analysis Laurel. Your "goody to shoes" point made me laugh because I could imagine you saying it. I have to agree with you about the accident being a blessing, simply because sometimes in life you have to go through something to get to paradise.
Angela Hatchel
7/20/2012 12:59:16 pm
The narrator starts a job at the Liberty Paint Factory. He is working with Brockway in the furnace room. Together they are "cooking" the paint. The day that the narrator starts working, an accident happens. The boilers start hissing and the narrator tries to lower the pressure but fails at doing so; the boiler then explodes. The narrator falls unconscious under a pile of machinery. After this accident though, a stranger occurrence takes place in the narrator; he is changed. "You might not recognize it just now, but that part of you is dead! You have not completely shed that self, that old agrarian self, but it's dead and you will throw it off completely and emerge something new. History has been born in your brain." (pg. 291) Before the accident, the narrator is seemed as a timid character especially when he is confronted by Dr. Bledsoe. You could say that he was scared of feared the authority of people higher than him. But on pg. 249, the narrator changes. He states, "Or was it, I thought, starting up the walk, that I was no longer afraid?....I was no longer afraid. Not of important men, not of trustees and such; for knowing now that there was nothing which I could expect from them, there was no reason to be afraid." The narrator then enters into a little ruckus later on in the novel. He sees an older couple being evicted out of their apartment and all of their stuff getting thrown out. He couldn't stand the unfairness that was being shown toward the older couple by the marshal. So his boldness (new change) motivated him and he stood up for the older couple and made a speech. The narrator talked about how they are law-abiding people and a slow-to-anger people. The narrator also was care free at this point. "I no longer had to worry about who saw me or about what was proper. To hell with all that,..." (pg. 264) "This is all very wild and childish, I thought, but to hell with being ashamed of what you liked. No more of that for me. I am what I am!" (pg. 265,266) This care free attitude, I think, actually is good for the narrator. Then, the narrator then leaves the apartments and runs into a man. The man commends him of his speech and asks him to have coffee with him. They go in and the man tells the narrator how much he loved his speech and all. "You were very effective in helping them. I can't believe that you're such an individualist as you pretend. You appeared to be a man who knew his duty toward the people and performed it well. Whatever you think about it personally, you were a spokesman for your people and you have a duty to work in their interest." (pg. 292) The things that the narrator has transformed into so far is marvelous. I believe if that he keeps changing like this, he will find his "identity" and place in the world.
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Mrs. Hulsey
7/21/2012 02:26:11 am
Excellent use of evidence Angela...I would still like to see a little more of your interpretation and a little less summary, but I am impressed.
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Clara Grace
7/25/2012 03:16:35 am
Very good post Angela! I agree. This new found confidence is what will make the story interesting and give it more depth. Remember, the narrator is telling the story from present day. He knows what the outcome is and we don't. Ellison does this to intrigue our interest and also to add depth to the plot.
I feel like the narrator was kind of sarcastic in his speech though. He kept repeating himself and trying to confuse the police officers. I don't like this new guy either. He seems like he is up to no good and will only cause harm to the narrator.
Also, did you get that Brockway intentionally planned for the narrator to have an accident?
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Summer Pate
7/20/2012 03:32:39 pm
When we first know of the narrator he is the type that always follows the rules and never tried to push any one over board or make anyone upset with his. After he starts working at the paint shop something changes him. After his accident he is more open minded and is not afraid to say what he thinks. This change is a good surprise because he stands up for what he believes.
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Mrs. Hulsey
7/21/2012 02:28:11 am
Summer, you need evidence! Check your email...
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wesley hughes
7/21/2012 12:27:07 am
in the beginning of the story the narrator was timid natured and scared to stand up or upset anybody. Once he begins working at the factory he gets pushed to a point the he breaks free of it a little and speaking his mind some. Then the accident happens and he drastically changes becoming not a man of conformity anymore. He tries to be a good man to all which is how we should be even if it ticks some people off because we stood up for somebody. With this new change he has developed he opens a whole new world to himself and gives a speech that makes a man ask him to have lunch with him. Then the man tells him he would be a great service to his people. Personally I believe he should of just learned this long ago, but i guess it takes things like an accident to change a man.
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Mrs. Hulsey
7/21/2012 02:24:43 am
This is okay, but it sounds a little rushed to me Wesley! Where are your quotes? Evidence? I will cut you some slack because all of your other posts are excellent...were you just not feeling this chapter?
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wesley hughes
7/23/2012 05:58:41 am
Yes, it was very rushed this time I had just gotten sick less than twenty minutes before I had gotten on here to do this post and i just wanted to get it over with. Sorry, I know for a fact I didn't do near my best on this one. And also this chapter killed me i just couldn't get into it which is very unusual considering they got in a fight and everything. I promise i'll do better on my next post if at all possible.
DaValyee' McGee
7/21/2012 01:16:16 am
Discuss the narrator’s transformation as a result of his accident at the Liberty Paint Factory.
Once we are introduced to the narrator, his beliefs, and attitude toward society, we realize his surface intentions of getting a job, working hard, and pleasing the whites, so that he will be granted a position to move upward in the world.
The narrator decides to get a new job, as a paint mixer, at the best paint company in the world (Liberty Paints). While there the narrator is introduced to a color paint that is the number one priority in the company's success, which is called Optic White. There's a scene where the narrator and a man named Lucius Brockway are underground where the paint starts it's process, and Brockway starts to stress the fact that there Optic White is as white as it gets, and that it is the perfect mix in the world, " Our white is so white you can paint a chunka coal and you'd have to crack it open with a sledge hammer to prove it wasn't white clear through. . . If It's Optic White, It's the Right White,” (213). The narrator recalls, “ ‘If It’s Optic White, It’s the Right White,” as he thought of a childhood jingle, “If you’re white, you’re right,” (213). I noticed here that Ellison wants the readers to think deeper and understand the connection between the company's slogan and the inequality of society. It depicts how whites can overpower anything (anyone) and how the black substance, which is the base of Optic White, becomes "invisible," or is overlooked by the white substance, and while mixed or even purified turns out to be a perfect substance, called Optic White.
As he's there at Liberty Paints, he gets into a nasty confrontation with Brockway in the broiler rooms. As the tanks get too hot, explode, and the narrator falls unconscious. When the narrator awakens, he's inside a hospital, while the doctors are trying to revive him with electrical shock, we learn that the narrator has suffered a sort of amnesia. Ellison again tries to make us (readers) connect with the narrator's ordeal with identity loss, as that of a newborn baby, a rebirth even. Being that the narrator was helpless, and dying of attention from the white society, like a newborn dependent attitude toward its mother. This results in a loss of his surroundings and a loss of self. In this, Ellison lends the narrator a "clean slate," or fresh start, of a new journey, but this time, he's on his own.
After he is released from the hospital, later there's a scene where the narrator is walking on a street, and notices a vendor that is selling sweet yams. He flashes back and the readers learn that in the South it was highly forbidden and inappropriate to indulge in Southern traditions in the presence of white people. Now being that the narrator is his "own father," as the crazy vet stated earlier, the narrator goes against that law by eating the yam in public, and he explains how overpowering it was and how it gave him a sense of freedom. He recalls, “I walked along, munching the yam just as suddenly overcome by an intense feeling of freedom--simply because I was eating while walking along the street. It was exhilarating. I no longer had to worry about who saw me or about what was proper. To hell with all that. . . .” And so continues the transformation of our “unconsciously” conscious narrator as the yam vendor replies earlier, “You right, but everything that looks good ain’t necessarily good,” (258).
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Mrs. Hulsey
7/21/2012 02:27:30 am
Beautiful use of quotes! Very cohesive. Still would like to see more of your brilliant analysis, less summary.
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Angela Hatchel
7/23/2012 06:52:54 am
DaValyee, I never thought about the rebirth of the narrator. That was a very good point. Like you said, he was unconscious for awhile and then awakens in a hospital room. He is rebirthed into a new person while he is here. I also like when you pointed out that the narrator was dependent on the attention from the white society. I agree with this as well. When he is changed after the incident at the paint factory, he doesn't become dependent on that anymore. He becomes an independent person and starts a new journey.
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Laurel Bell
7/25/2012 04:18:57 am
Great job DaValyee'! I especially love your connection with the Liberty Paint Company's slogan and the inequality of society. Sadly, it was true! Pe
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Laurel Bell
7/25/2012 04:33:00 am
I'm sorry, I wasn't finished with my comment. As I was saying, people overlooked the black people when truthfully, they were the heart of many jobs and great things in America. I also love how the narrator starts to embrace his true identity. His new perspective on life makes me so proud! He was in dire need of a backbone. :)
Jacora Smart
7/21/2012 01:48:34 am
Simply put, the narrator went through a total rebirth. His new state of mind was in him all along; it was just waiting to be set free.
Starting from the beginning of the story and all the way to the accident is the symbolization of a mother carrying a child for nine months. (The narrator's past surroundings, environment, and situations before the paint factory accident symbolize a 'mother'.) During the narrator's 'gestation period', the narrator was humble and striving for success. He didn't get into trouble and morphed himself into the person others wanted him to be. But, once the narrator is blindsided by the truth about his leader, Bledsoe, the narrator is pushed toward rebirth.
The narrator’s ‘labor’ occurs when the accident happens. Readers are assured of the beginning of the narrator's birth when he "seemed to sink to the center of a lake of heavy water” after the accident. (pg. 230) Drowning or sinking usually represents the beginning of renewal or birth, and the narrator makes multiple references to water or drowning. Childbirth is very painful and sometimes traumatic; the narrator’s birth is this way, too. If the accident had not occurred or if the narrator had not endured the electrical shocks at the hospital that cure him, he would have not been renewed. (I guess the phrase “With pain comes promise” definitely has some truth here.)
Once he is at the hospital, he is like a newborn; His “mind was blank, as though (he) had just begun to live.” (pg. 233) He is a new man. The narrator even mentions that once he “(discovers) who (he is), (he’ll) be free.” (pg. 243) When he leaves the hospital, he has a surreal feeling. It is an alien feeling for him, but he eventually realizes that he is no longer afraid. He is no longer afraid “of important men... (or) trustees… for (he now knows) that there was nothing which (he) could expect from them, (so) there was no reason to be afraid.” (pg. 249) He is finally liberated. He describes the liberation when eats yams while walking the streets. The feeling “is exhilarating. (He) no longer had to worry about who saw (him) or what was proper.” (pg. 264) And the liberation leads him to wanting to liberate others. When he encounters the old couple that is being evicted, something within him arouses. His new self leads him to stand up in front of the crowd and make an impromptu speech. The old narrator wouldn’t have done something like this; the old narrator lacked the courage and didn’t stand up for what he believed in. But now that he is new, he also has to realize that his old self is gone. He realizes this even more when the man that admired the narrator’s speech mentions that “(the narrator) (has) not completely shed that (old) self, but it’s dead and (he’ll) have to throw it off completely and emerge in something new.” (pg. 291) I think that once he completely dives headfirst into his new being, his freedoms of mind will transverse into other areas of his life so he can truly feel new.
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Mrs. Hulsey
7/21/2012 02:28:56 am
Beautiful. You like this book, don't you?
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Jacora Smart
7/21/2012 03:01:57 am
Yes ma'am. :)
Molly Williams
7/21/2012 02:56:04 am
Discuss the narrator’s transformation as a result of his accident at the Liberty Paint Factory.
I didn’t really like this book too much when I first started reading it, but I'm liking the new narrator.
During the beginning chapters our narrator was a man that steered clear of any confrontation and did what made others happy with him, not what made him happy. After he had the accident at the Liberty Paint Company, he changed into someone more daring. He started standing up for his self and others. Whenever he saw something that he thought to be unfair, or wrong he confronted it and did what he could to fix the problem. Although some people don’t like the new him, others realize that it’s a good change. It’s just sad that he had to have an accident to realize who he needed to be. I just hope he keeps his new confidence throughout the story!
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mrs Hulsey
7/21/2012 07:04:09 am
Molly.... Where are your quotes and evidence?!?
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Alli Cook
7/21/2012 07:22:40 am
In chapter 10 and other previous chapters, the readers have come to know the narrator as a person who is not very outspoken. He seems to be on the shy side and a little timid. Of course, he may tell us he is angry or mad like when Dr. Bledsoe tells Mr. Norton "You can't be soft with these people." (Ch. 4, Pg. 104) However, after the incident at the Liberty Paint Factory, he seems to change into a very outspoken person. I think this surprises the narrator as well as the readers. It seems that he is a new person, which is a good thing. He wants to do the right thing and be a law-abiding citizen. (Ch. 13) Personally, it surprised me when he spoke up at "the eviction", as they called it. (Ch. 13, pg. 275). I would've thought he would have just watched the others, like he did when he took Mr. Norton to the Golden Day. I can't wait to see what else the narrator will do now that he has "changed".
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Clara Grace
7/21/2012 02:37:20 pm
Discuss the narrator’s transformation as a result of his accident at the Liberty Paint Factory.
“O well they picked poor Robin clean,
O well they picked poor Robin clean.
Well they tied poor Robin to a stump.
Lawd, they picked all the feathers
Round from Robin’s rump.
Well they picked poor Robin clean.”
“What had they done? They [picked] him clean, all for a laugh.”
The narrator thinks that he has been stripped of everything when he is forced to move to New York. But oh so little he knows. While working at the Liberty Paint Factory, the narrator encounters his death and then rebirth.
First, the matter of irony though. “The liquid inside was dead black. But he stirred it vigorously until it became glossy white.” Seriously, black making white? The absence of color to the spectrum of all the colors? But what does it suggest? Brockway says that it’s not perfect if he “ain’t put my black hands into it!” It parallels to the black race being the backbone of the white race. For example, without slavery, the South couldn’t have been successful. The “paint [will] cover just about anything,” even the entire black race from existence, yet it is the blacks who are making it. The narrator comments “it’s certainly white all right; if you’re white, you’re right.” This coincides with the narrator’s beliefs that he still must conform to the white society’s ways to become successful. And in the narrator’s mind, “[he] could see the brightly trimmed and freshly decorated campus buildings” painted with white paint. Also, the Golden Day was “once painted white.” It had come full circle. “[He] had carried Mr. Norton to the old rundown building with rotting paint,” and now the narrator was here. White is supposed to represent pureness and hope, while black evil and darkness. Yet, there can also be a balance, as in the Ying and Yang signs. Oh, let the irony reign free.
After the narrator messes up the paint, he is sent three levels down into the basement to work on a new job. There is “a heavy metal door marked “Danger.”” It is “noisy and dimly lit.” There are nine levels of hell. The third one is where gluttons lie there sightless and heedless of their neighbors, symbolizing the cold, selfish, and empty sensuality of their lives. There is also a matter of White versus Black in the circle of hell. The guard of the third level is Cerberus. He has three heads. Throughout the chapter, we see three very different sides of Brockway. He is paranoid, boasting, and then violent. He becomes the reason for the narrator’s accident. When the blast occurred, the narrator “shot forward with sudden acceleration into a wet blast of black emptiness that was somehow a bath of whiteness.” Hypocrisy!
Okay so I know I got a little away there, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to explain that.
The narrator ‘fell into a space that seemed not a fall but a suspension.” This is symbolic of purgatory, is the condition of purification or temporary punishment by which those who die in a state of grace are believed to be made ready for Heaven. The time spent here alludes to the time spent in the hospital. The narrator was “transfixed and numb with the sense that [he] had lost an irrevocably an important victory.” And he did. However, it is for the better. He died. And now it is his rebirth. The “bath of whiteness” symbolizes a baptism. The hospital is now his mother. “Now the music became a distinct wail of female pain” and out popped the new narrator, slate wiped clean of all his inhibitions. They delivered shock therapy instead of a lobotomy. One doctor suggested castration. This suggests the ultimate removal of male power. Instead of this, they took his identity, and made him invisible. Yet, freedom is still a possibility. While he was in the machine, he knew he could destroy the machine, but it would also cause him pain. He “wanted freedom, not destruction.” He knew that when “[he] discovered who [he] was, [he] [would] be free.” So after he leaves the hospital, he has to go find his own self, his own freedom. He is “a new man, no longer afraid.” The men at the house can tell that “in losing [his] place in Bledsoe’s world [he] had betrayed them.” The narrator is hungry for revenge. “Coming to New York had perhaps been an unconscious attempt to keep the old freezing unit going, but it hadn’t worked.” Bledsoe sent the narrator there to his demise, yet the narrator is rising out of the ashes.
As the narrator ate the yams, he “no longer felt ashamed of the things [he] had always loved.” He has finally gained some Kaunas and realized that he can’t repress his black history, but embrace
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Mrs Hulsey
7/26/2012 10:58:00 pm
I am so impressed! It is sometimes a gamble to step out of the box when analyzing, but you did so beautifully. I appreciate your acknowledgment of allusion and symbolism and your ability to express a different interpretation without abandoning the evidence in the text. Love it!
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Jacora Smart
7/25/2012 06:02:52 am
Whew, all I can say is Bravo! :) Great analysis. We both kind of had similar thinking by taking a different route and seeing a varying perspective with these chapters. I never would have made the connection with hell. Brilliant. But, it's very true that what the narrator's going through probably felt like hell to him. In the end he came out brand new. Like a diamond, for example. The narrator, at first, was like a boring, old piece of coal. Nothing really special at first, but he definitely had potential. The narrator had to endure pressure in order to become something new in the same way that coals turn into diamonds. Also, I agree with the 'mother' reference. The hospital scene was very similar to child delivery. And like I said in my post, the narrator was like a newborn; his “mind was blank, as though (he) had just begun to live.” (pg. 233) All of this birthed a new man within the narrator that will take him to different places. As a reader, I'm very intrigued to see where those places may be. I'm sure you are too. :)
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Daryl Hall
8/1/2012 11:37:30 am
Discuss the narrator’s transformation as a result of his accident at the Liberty Paint Factory.
Throughout the beginning of the story the narrator gave off the impression of being nice and respectable to the white man. He was doing what he thought he needed to do to be successful. He was staying humble and keeping his thoughts to himself.
Then he gets a job at the Liberty Paint Factory. Working at this job causes him to reach a point where he sees things a little different. After the accident it put the narrator over the edge. He was at the point where he stood up for himself and what's right. He no longer bit his tongue or let things slide. This change was for the better. Not biting his tongue and saying what was needed to say in a speech, got him recognized by a man that eventually wants him to help him with his service. He realized that actually doing what's right to move up in society level is so much better than kissing but to get there.
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Zachary Howard
8/12/2012 02:50:59 pm
Discuss the narrator’s transformation as a result of his accident at the Liberty Paint Factory.
At the beginning of the story our narrator is a guy that is ashamed of his race and spoke to please others. He was pushed out of his comfort zone when he was sent the factory. As we know when you push people out of their comfort zone they either can excel or fail. To me he excelled at the factory he became vocal, spoke not to please but to inform people on his feelings and the accident was that beginning of that new chapter in his life.