Blog 2: Freedom & The North

Dr. Bledsoe demands the protagonist to go to New York. He implies that after the summer the narrator will be able to return to the college, “You go there and earn your next year’s fees, understand?” (145). This sparks a sense of false hope for the narrator. Dr. Bledsoe offers the narrator letters of recommendation to help in his search for a job, “These letters will be sealed; don’t open them if you want help” (149).  These instructions foreshadow that the letters may be corrupt. At his last job interview, the protagonist learns what the letters actually say: “he shall never, under any circumstances, be enrolled as a student here again” (190). These letters expose the true character of Dr. Bledsoe —manipulative. Will Dr. Bledsoe’s selfishness benefit the narrator? Will the North allow for unprejudiced societal achievement for the protagonist?

The North is intriguing to the narrator. The white drivers obeying the black policeman directing traffic shocks the narrator. The narrator considers New York as a place of more opportunity for himself. The narrator’s job at Liberty Paints negates any sense of opportunity he believes the North could offer. The following statement by Brockway compares to society, “Our white is so white you can paint a chunka coal and you’d have to crack it open with a sledgehammer to prove it wasn’t white clear through!” (217). The whites in society act like the white paint and render the blacks invisible. The narrator realizes this when he says “If you’re white, you’re right” (218) in response to the company slogan. The slogan shows Liberty Paints relies on the fundamentals of white privilege and racism. It is disturbing these preconceptions will still act as obstacles for the narrator in the North.

The white paint serves as a symbol of purity. The sign displaying “KEEP AMERICA PURE WITH LIBERTY PAINTS” (196) suggests the founders of Liberty Paints believe white is the only pure color. There is some irony involved because in making their white paint they use “glistening black drops” (200) and the work of black men.