Chapter 10

This forum is for the discussion is for the discussion of Invisible Man, Chapter 10

the narrator experiences a lot of stuff in this chapter. He goes to the paint company and is given a job mixing paint. the supervisor is negectful and in a hurry and the narrator inadvertantly mixes the wrong material in the paint. he summaraily let go but instead of being fired outright, he's sent to the boiler area where he hooks up with a very old black man who, by the description of the author really is in on the basis & beginning of the entire company.the man is very worried someone will take over his job and doesn' t really want the narrators help. He does see the guy might have his uses and for a bit one thinks it is all going to work out. At lunch time however, the narrator goes to retrieve his lunch and accidentlally walks in on a union meeting. he is treated hostilly even though he doesn't know what is going on. The union men hate the narrators supervisor because he is anti union. Whe the narrator returns to the boilers his supervisor is livid that he talked to the union men and accuses him of being a spy. They fight and then the boiler blows up injuring our hero. there were several references to white paint paint, white is right, pure, etc. that I am sure were inferences to white peoples superiorty.

The symbolism of the white paint, the white purity, the mixing of a bit of black into the white to make it perfect, the black base, was all easy for me to grasp. The old man in the boiler room seemed to have the same thoughts as the narrator's grandfather, being greatful to the white people for giving him a job, not joining a union. Our poor narrator can't seem to catch a break, yet he still doesn't seem to be catching on to the ways of the world/culture.

I think the paint factory is a good parallel to the racism that is going on during the novel. The old black man is nervous about his position with a younger man helping him. The Union can be paralleled to white supremacy. Is that too far of a stretch?

I don't think it is to far of a stretch. I was thinking that the narrators granfather wanted the narrator to be true to himself and not kiss the whaite mans ass. He wnate him to play the role of 'boy' but keep his heart true to his black roots.