The Machines In Ralph Ellison's The Invisible Man
Industry is driven by the machines that produce the product. Without these machines, creating what is necessary for an industry to thrive and grow becomes increasingly difficult; more man power is needed, more time is consumed. For these machines to function properly, all the pieces; the cogs, the gears, the wheels, the levers and so on within them must be working well together. In the Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison applies this idea in a sociological fashion. Tucked away underneath the surface of the prosperous face of the country lie the machines, but the machines within the machines are the people who struggle to keep them moving every day. The people who are underground are the ones who drive these machines, who work themselves ragged to make sure all the
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gears stay in motion. While the white business man may own all these machines, it is the African-American worker that keeps them going. This worker is relied on and without him the process falls to pieces. This notion is perhaps most profoundly addressed in chapter ten of the novel. Within this chapter, the narrator finds himself a job at a paint factory. This factory specializes in producing white paint which they have dubbed, “Optic White.” The narrator finds his task to be mixing a certain chemical into each batch of paint. On page 195 we find his supervisor, Kimbro, explaining the process. “ ‘The idea is to open each bucket and put in ten drops of this stuff’, he said. ‘Then you stir it ‘til it disappears ………..” The narrator is confused by these instructions. The graduate that he is told to take the chemical drops from contains a liquid that is “dead black.” Somehow this black substance makes the white paint a better quality. When the narrator tests out this first few batches, the white paint shines brightly and looks very white indeed. There is no indication that a blackness has been mixed in; whatever the substance’s job within the paint is has been done and has been done invisibly, underneath where people can’t see. This entire process alludes to how Ellison portrays the socio-economic situation of African-Americans during this time period. The end product is pure whiteness, un-tarnished and shining bright. Whoever buys this paint won’t ever know and seemingly doesn’t need to know what went into its creation, and that is the point. As long as the hard work and character of the African American is kept underground, everyone can remain blissfully unaware of the struggles facing these people and see only what they need. The point is driven home even further when the narrator chooses the wrong chemical to mix into the paint. He runs out of his first batch and goes to fill his graduate up again, but picks the wrong chemical to fill it with. The test batches for the new paint that he creates have a flaw, some darkness shows through. On page 199 we read, “What on earth had happened? The paint was not as white and glossy as before; it had a gray tinge.” His supervisor grows furious when he finds the narrator’s mistake. Darkness is not supposed to show through, the batch is ruined. Without the right black, the white isn’t as white. Again, this alludes to the fact that the African-American members of society are not supposed to be seen “on the surface.” Their part to play in the country is an out-of-the-way one. Their labor is gladly welcomed, but the minute that people can see how something is being made, what it takes to create a functioning society, the problem rises. In a world where the right way is the white way, there is simply no room for acknowledgment of the machines within the machines. The debacle of the failed mixing job leads the narrator to be transferred to new work in the factory. He is told to report to Lucius Brockway. The way to reach his supervisor is described by the narrator on page 202. “It was a deep basement. Three levels underground I pushed upon a heavy metal door marked ‘Danger’ and descended into a noisy, dimly lit room.” The language of the passage speaks to the oppression the narrator experiences. Again, the idea of being underground arises. The narrator has to drop down not just one level, but three. As if it wasn’t enough to be buried deep within the bowels of the factory, the narrator also finds a heavy door marked danger, a clear indication that whatever lies behind it needs to be handled delicately, needs to be dealt with carefully. Even when through this door, the narrator must descend again. The room he enters isn’t a bright place either; rather, it’s dark, dimly lit. The impression of a shadowed room where anything could be hidden is conveyed. In this room the narrator comes across his new supervisor, Lucius Brockway, another African-American man whose job it is to keep the machines that literally are the heart of the factory running. Ellison continues to drive home the message of the chapter with these allusions. After speaking with Brockway for a bit, the narrator is skeptical of him. He doesn’t understand how this man could be an engineer; to the narrator, he lacks the air of education that should accompany such a position. However, the narrator rationalizes the situation by recalling a custodian back home who worked at the water works. Though lacking in an education himself, this man held the sole responsibility of keeping the Water Works running. But were they truly lacking in education, or were these men attempting to merely dissimulate into the world they lived in. Like the narrators professors at school who wore chauffeur hats when driving their cars in different towns to avoid trouble, these men may simply be presenting a persona that will function smoothly in society. By masking their knowledge with a down-spoken demeanor, they do not threaten the status-quo. They do the work without making waves, they do the work underground. Brockway shows the narrator how to check the pressure gauges of the machines and explains the importance behind the act.
If the pressure builds up to a level to high, the machines will be ruined. It is their job, there in the underground, to make sure the machines that drive the factories production are kept in running order. Brockway also shows the narrator the machine that grinds and melts down the raw material of the paint. This is a profound moment in the novel, one where Ellison’s message sounds loudly. The narrator’s surprise at the fact that the paint initial creation begins deep in the bowels of the factory is diffused by Brockway’s explanation. On page 210 he says, “ ‘Naw, they just mixes in the color, make it look pretty. Right down here is where the real paint is made. Without what I do they couldn’t do nothing, they be making bricks without straw.’” Ellison, through the voice of Lucius Brockway, is again bringing up the underground nature of African American’s work during this time. The skeleton of the country, the backbone of the economy, the base for the nation’s production is kept hidden away; it remains underground where its face can’t be seen, where it’s voice can’t make
waves. Ellison carries this idea further by introducing the fact that young, educated, white professionals have worked in this area of the factory. Brockway relays the story of the time when he was ill, too ill to work and a “proper” engineer filled in. Interestingly enough, the quality of the paint diminishes when this happens. With Brockway gone, “Paint was bleeding and wrinkling, wouldn’t cover or nothing……anyway, everything was going bad.” (pg.211). When the backbone is removed, the entire process collapses. The quality goes away and Optic White Paint is no longer the right white. Without the blackness mixed in, the white cannot be as white. Ellison is making a strong statement that without African-Americans to contrast themselves with, the white members of this society will not be “as white.” Without the other to define themselves against, they will lose a part of what makes their identity what it is. The face of American society is a white one in this time. If something doesn’t fit in with that it is masked, it is covered up. To simply do away with those who don’t fit the mold wouldn’t be smart, these people can still contribute, but under a white cover. Ellison addresses this on page 213, once again using the voice of Lucius Brockway to get the point across. We read, “’……Our white is so white that 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 the mask that society wants African Americans to wear is effective, their own identity will remain unknown to people’s eyes. Only the whiteness that has been painted on will show, any blackness that is there is buried deep. As the narrator says further down the page, “If you’re white, you’re right.” The narrator plays an ironic role in this chapter. Though the reader can see and understand the points that Ellison is raising, we see the narrator moving about unaware. His mind has been trained to not notice these things, or, when he notices them, not to question them. Brockway’s anger at him after he meets with the union workers is shocking to the narrator, but he tries to rationalize the situation as he has been taught. Rather than giving weight to the things Brockway says, rather than questioning the validity of his paranoia over his job security and his extremely defensive attitude over the issue of the union, the narrator falls back on how he has been trained to deal with this type of person. On page 220 and 221 we read, “You were trained to accept the foolishness of such old men as this, even when you thought them clowns and fools; you were trained to pretend that you respected them and acknowledged in them the same quality of authority and power in your world as the whites before whom they bowed and scraped and feared and loved and imitated…..” In his mind, the narrator holds himself above Brockway. He sounds as though he thinks he is better than him and not subject to the circumstances of which Brockway is apart of. The irony lies in the fact that he is wholly subject and actively subjected to the exact same circumstance in which Brockway lives, only he can’t see it. Everything that he has been taught, the ways that he has been trained to act, all serve the purpose of keeping him underground, of silencing his voice that could make waves. The struggle that follows this passage is itself followed by another conversation. Brockway explains his anger and the narrator listens. Brockway creates the impression that joining up with the union is being disloyal, that it is going against the hand that feeds you as it were. On page 224 we read, “Here the white man done give ‘em jobs…..He don give ‘em good jobs too, and they so ungrateful that they goes and joins up with that backbiting union.” The union is in place to make sure the rights of the worker are upheld. If these black men were hired due to their qualifications, then surely they should be treated with equal rights, so why be angry about them joining the union to fight for these rights? Because in Brockway’s mind, their job is a favor; something the white man handed to them to help them out. Joining the union would be spitting in the face of that favor. Though Brockway sees through some of the illusion that society is spinning, he can’t see through this final curtain. He considers himself not equal, a lesser man then a white man and therefore not privilege to the same rights. Seeing other men of his race defying this idea infuriates him because it is telling him that the values he has based his life on may not be sound after all. “They got all this machinery, but that ain’t everything; we the machines inside the machine.” The workers whose labor is hidden, the people whose contributions are used but not noted, that is the role of the African American in Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man. The points highlighted in the preceding pages are reiterated again and again throughout the entire novel: the narrators place in the Brotherhood, the Brotherhood’s use of Ras the Exhorter (Destroyer), and several others. But they speak the loudest in the paint factory. The metaphor of white paint and Brockway’s profound statements throughout the chapter are a thesis statement for Ellison’s work.
gears stay in motion. While the white business man may own all these machines, it is the African-American worker that keeps them going. This worker is relied on and without him the process falls to pieces. This notion is perhaps most profoundly addressed in chapter ten of the novel. Within this chapter, the narrator finds himself a job at a paint factory. This factory specializes in producing white paint which they have dubbed, “Optic White.” The narrator finds his task to be mixing a certain chemical into each batch of paint. On page 195 we find his supervisor, Kimbro, explaining the process. “ ‘The idea is to open each bucket and put in ten drops of this stuff’, he said. ‘Then you stir it ‘til it disappears ………..” The narrator is confused by these instructions. The graduate that he is told to take the chemical drops from contains a liquid that is “dead black.” Somehow this black substance makes the white paint a better quality. When the narrator tests out this first few batches, the white paint shines brightly and looks very white indeed. There is no indication that a blackness has been mixed in; whatever the substance’s job within the paint is has been done and has been done invisibly, underneath where people can’t see. This entire process alludes to how Ellison portrays the socio-economic situation of African-Americans during this time period. The end product is pure whiteness, un-tarnished and shining bright. Whoever buys this paint won’t ever know and seemingly doesn’t need to know what went into its creation, and that is the point. As long as the hard work and character of the African American is kept underground, everyone can remain blissfully unaware of the struggles facing these people and see only what they need. The point is driven home even further when the narrator chooses the wrong chemical to mix into the paint. He runs out of his first batch and goes to fill his graduate up again, but picks the wrong chemical to fill it with. The test batches for the new paint that he creates have a flaw, some darkness shows through. On page 199 we read, “What on earth had happened? The paint was not as white and glossy as before; it had a gray tinge.” His supervisor grows furious when he finds the narrator’s mistake. Darkness is not supposed to show through, the batch is ruined. Without the right black, the white isn’t as white. Again, this alludes to the fact that the African-American members of society are not supposed to be seen “on the surface.” Their part to play in the country is an out-of-the-way one. Their labor is gladly welcomed, but the minute that people can see how something is being made, what it takes to create a functioning society, the problem rises. In a world where the right way is the white way, there is simply no room for acknowledgment of the machines within the machines. The debacle of the failed mixing job leads the narrator to be transferred to new work in the factory. He is told to report to Lucius Brockway. The way to reach his supervisor is described by the narrator on page 202. “It was a deep basement. Three levels underground I pushed upon a heavy metal door marked ‘Danger’ and descended into a noisy, dimly lit room.” The language of the passage speaks to the oppression the narrator experiences. Again, the idea of being underground arises. The narrator has to drop down not just one level, but three. As if it wasn’t enough to be buried deep within the bowels of the factory, the narrator also finds a heavy door marked danger, a clear indication that whatever lies behind it needs to be handled delicately, needs to be dealt with carefully. Even when through this door, the narrator must descend again. The room he enters isn’t a bright place either; rather, it’s dark, dimly lit. The impression of a shadowed room where anything could be hidden is conveyed. In this room the narrator comes across his new supervisor, Lucius Brockway, another African-American man whose job it is to keep the machines that literally are the heart of the factory running. Ellison continues to drive home the message of the chapter with these allusions. After speaking with Brockway for a bit, the narrator is skeptical of him. He doesn’t understand how this man could be an engineer; to the narrator, he lacks the air of education that should accompany such a position. However, the narrator rationalizes the situation by recalling a custodian back home who worked at the water works. Though lacking in an education himself, this man held the sole responsibility of keeping the Water Works running. But were they truly lacking in education, or were these men attempting to merely dissimulate into the world they lived in. Like the narrators professors at school who wore chauffeur hats when driving their cars in different towns to avoid trouble, these men may simply be presenting a persona that will function smoothly in society. By masking their knowledge with a down-spoken demeanor, they do not threaten the status-quo. They do the work without making waves, they do the work underground. Brockway shows the narrator how to check the pressure gauges of the machines and explains the importance behind the act.
If the pressure builds up to a level to high, the machines will be ruined. It is their job, there in the underground, to make sure the machines that drive the factories production are kept in running order. Brockway also shows the narrator the machine that grinds and melts down the raw material of the paint. This is a profound moment in the novel, one where Ellison’s message sounds loudly. The narrator’s surprise at the fact that the paint initial creation begins deep in the bowels of the factory is diffused by Brockway’s explanation. On page 210 he says, “ ‘Naw, they just mixes in the color, make it look pretty. Right down here is where the real paint is made. Without what I do they couldn’t do nothing, they be making bricks without straw.’” Ellison, through the voice of Lucius Brockway, is again bringing up the underground nature of African American’s work during this time. The skeleton of the country, the backbone of the economy, the base for the nation’s production is kept hidden away; it remains underground where its face can’t be seen, where it’s voice can’t make
waves. Ellison carries this idea further by introducing the fact that young, educated, white professionals have worked in this area of the factory. Brockway relays the story of the time when he was ill, too ill to work and a “proper” engineer filled in. Interestingly enough, the quality of the paint diminishes when this happens. With Brockway gone, “Paint was bleeding and wrinkling, wouldn’t cover or nothing……anyway, everything was going bad.” (pg.211). When the backbone is removed, the entire process collapses. The quality goes away and Optic White Paint is no longer the right white. Without the blackness mixed in, the white cannot be as white. Ellison is making a strong statement that without African-Americans to contrast themselves with, the white members of this society will not be “as white.” Without the other to define themselves against, they will lose a part of what makes their identity what it is. The face of American society is a white one in this time. If something doesn’t fit in with that it is masked, it is covered up. To simply do away with those who don’t fit the mold wouldn’t be smart, these people can still contribute, but under a white cover. Ellison addresses this on page 213, once again using the voice of Lucius Brockway to get the point across. We read, “’……Our white is so white that 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 the mask that society wants African Americans to wear is effective, their own identity will remain unknown to people’s eyes. Only the whiteness that has been painted on will show, any blackness that is there is buried deep. As the narrator says further down the page, “If you’re white, you’re right.” The narrator plays an ironic role in this chapter. Though the reader can see and understand the points that Ellison is raising, we see the narrator moving about unaware. His mind has been trained to not notice these things, or, when he notices them, not to question them. Brockway’s anger at him after he meets with the union workers is shocking to the narrator, but he tries to rationalize the situation as he has been taught. Rather than giving weight to the things Brockway says, rather than questioning the validity of his paranoia over his job security and his extremely defensive attitude over the issue of the union, the narrator falls back on how he has been trained to deal with this type of person. On page 220 and 221 we read, “You were trained to accept the foolishness of such old men as this, even when you thought them clowns and fools; you were trained to pretend that you respected them and acknowledged in them the same quality of authority and power in your world as the whites before whom they bowed and scraped and feared and loved and imitated…..” In his mind, the narrator holds himself above Brockway. He sounds as though he thinks he is better than him and not subject to the circumstances of which Brockway is apart of. The irony lies in the fact that he is wholly subject and actively subjected to the exact same circumstance in which Brockway lives, only he can’t see it. Everything that he has been taught, the ways that he has been trained to act, all serve the purpose of keeping him underground, of silencing his voice that could make waves. The struggle that follows this passage is itself followed by another conversation. Brockway explains his anger and the narrator listens. Brockway creates the impression that joining up with the union is being disloyal, that it is going against the hand that feeds you as it were. On page 224 we read, “Here the white man done give ‘em jobs…..He don give ‘em good jobs too, and they so ungrateful that they goes and joins up with that backbiting union.” The union is in place to make sure the rights of the worker are upheld. If these black men were hired due to their qualifications, then surely they should be treated with equal rights, so why be angry about them joining the union to fight for these rights? Because in Brockway’s mind, their job is a favor; something the white man handed to them to help them out. Joining the union would be spitting in the face of that favor. Though Brockway sees through some of the illusion that society is spinning, he can’t see through this final curtain. He considers himself not equal, a lesser man then a white man and therefore not privilege to the same rights. Seeing other men of his race defying this idea infuriates him because it is telling him that the values he has based his life on may not be sound after all. “They got all this machinery, but that ain’t everything; we the machines inside the machine.” The workers whose labor is hidden, the people whose contributions are used but not noted, that is the role of the African American in Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man. The points highlighted in the preceding pages are reiterated again and again throughout the entire novel: the narrators place in the Brotherhood, the Brotherhood’s use of Ras the Exhorter (Destroyer), and several others. But they speak the loudest in the paint factory. The metaphor of white paint and Brockway’s profound statements throughout the chapter are a thesis statement for Ellison’s work.