In Progress Blog Post 3: White, White, White

Some of the most symbolic scenes in the book come from the narrator's experiences in the Liberty Paint factory. The fact that the whole deal in the factory is about white set off alarm bells in my head. It is clear the Liberty Paints has a relation to race in American society. The sign the narrator sees outside the  factory says "Keep America Pure With Liberty Paints." First off, the idea of purity has very racial context. That, coupled with the white paint tells me that the paint company is racially symbolic. Mr Brockway's slogan "If its Optic White, its the Right White," similarly draws subconsciously on the idea of white superiority and pureness. The narrator immediately thinks of the slogan if you're white, you're right. This reminded me of when the doctor in the Golden Day says that the narrator "believes that white is right." The superiority of whites is reinforced through brands such as Liberty Paints. Further, the idea of Liberty connotes something Founding Fatheresque. It is as though those sons of liberty intended for white to be right (they probably did, in truth). Yet the suppression of black for white is anything but liberating, instead it puts blacks down and whites up. The paint company is run on the surface by white people, selling their Optic White paint. Yet the paint base comes from one uneducated black man in the basement. He performs much of the skilled operations of the business, unable to be replicated by the educated engineers who come to take his job. Just as the optic white paint will cover the black coal and make it appear as though there was no black in the center, the white outside completely covers the black foundation on the inside of the company, Mr Brockway. Similarly, the brilliant white paint is made from grey foundation and black drips. Ellison is arguing that in order for the white to seem so bright, it must be contrasted with the black. In American society, blacks must be made to appear inferior in order for whites to seem so superior by contrast. The name Optic White ties into the thread throughout the novel of seeing and blindness. Optics imply seeing, which is ironic because the white covers the black, making it unseen. This is another reinforcement of the idea of whites keeping blacks down to enhance their own supposed superiority. This makes me think of the Founder's ideology at the college. There the white donor's, and the school, are trying to whitewash the black students. They become embarrassed of their people and their culture, of those who do not act like white people. Ellison seems to reject the ideology of giving up black identity to get ahead, especially because it is unrealistic in the face of white racism and hostility.