Bledsoe's Relation to Trueblood

I think Ellison uses Trueblood and Bledsoe to represent the two ways to be successful in the black community during the 20th century. Trueblood represents the African Americans that prove the white misjudgments right by doing immoral things. They support him because they support the negative portrayal of the African American community. He starts to use his "story" as a way of getting money, and it is believed that he has even added onto the story. I believe that Trueblood is ashamed of himself, but yet he tells everyone about impregnating his daughter because he is using it to his benefit. While he is exiled from the black community, he is newly accepted and supported by the white community. Bledsoe is successful, and accepted by the white community because he is a hardworker, and a manipulator. He is acknowledged for climbing from the bottom to the top of the college, yet he lacks educational skills. He neglects the black community, and punishes them because he believes that he has the power. By doing so, he seperates himself from being a part of the black community, and tries to become more of an authority for the black community. He uses manipulation of the whites to maintain his status in the college, and his power to make himself look good, and others look bad. Bledsoe's main downfall is that he doesnt understand that at any time, the white men can take his power away.

I found it interesting that both of their names have something to do with blood, which has the deeper connotation of being embedded in a person and constantly running throughout them. I also found it interesting that they both share the same circumstances (being accepted into the white community, but exiled from the black community). Their opposite natures create a separation between both men, when they are using the same technique of manipulation of white people.