The Loud Voice of a White Man

Ellison symbolizes the fear of the narrator through Mr. Norton’s incapacitated body. Mr. Norton’s body is the fate of the narrator. More accurately, Mr. Norton’s body is a synecdoche for White society’s compassion towards black people. The dialogue Ellison employs about Mr. Norton’s body further proves this point. “He’s only a man. Remember that. He’s only a man!” (86). This understatement exemplifies the fear felt by the narrator at this moment. His poor decisions have left the symbolic access to a better life half-dead in a saloon. “He was like a formless white death…a death which had been there all the time…” (86). Is this a physical death? Or a death to the prospects of the narrator? Ellison employs the metaphor of the death of white man to propel the anxiety of the narrator forward. 

After reawakening, Mr. Norton begins to talk of his “destiny”. “Why the success of my work [for the university], of course” (94). Ellison utilizes the words ‘destiny’ and ‘work’ when discussing Mr. Norton’s success. By underscoring these two words together, the racial paradox begins to form between them. Norton’s work is to further promote the welfare of black people, and by doing this, he completes his destiny. In a slam poem entitled “Lost Voices”, two poets explain the discontinuity between one party only being able to advocate for another party’s rights. This is parallel to the ‘work’ Mr. Norton does — by advocating for black people on their behalf, he strips away their voice from the conversation. The voice of the oppressed people being silenced in order to help them, yields no such progress. 

Political Cartoon depicting black civil rights in the hands of an outside party.