Through the stories of Trueblood and the college, Ellison portrays the two ways in which whites attempt to keep black people inferior. After the Civil War, whites were terrified of African Americans quickly rising through society until they were more successful, and so white people found many ways to control their successes. The examples that Ellison gives seem at first to the reader, and also to the characters involved, to be examples of pure kindness from white people, but on closer examination it becomes evident that they are in fact well-hidden suppression tactics.
At first glance, and from the way the trustees and leaders of the school explain it, the African American college the narrator attends seems to be a wonderful project by white people to educate black people in an equal manner to themselves. The narrator describes the campus as beautiful, and he respects his teachers and Dr. Bledsoe, the president of the college, very much. It soon becomes apparent, however, that it is not an education to create equality, but instead an education of subservience and submission. The students learn to be grateful and respectful towards white people, because they have been given more opportunities than their forefathers. In the end, the founders of the school have created a place where they can ensure that an entire generation of African Americans will not be a threat to white dominance.
Trueblood’s story is another example of this. Trueblood explains that while his family was desperate, hungry, and poor, but otherwise lived a very ordinary and harmless life, white people refused or ignored to help them. However, as soon as he “mistakenly” (as he claims) impregnated his own daughter, the white people began to pour funding into aiding his family and himself. Though Trueblood does not understand why this is so, the narrator is angered that Trueblood, who seems to be of bad character and has no future promise for himself or his family, is being supported, while the narrator, who has a lot of potential, is not. It appears that they are just being charitable, but by giving money and support to a hopeless and disgraceful black family, the white people are promoting this way of life for African Americans – making sure that it continues and giving others the incentive to live like the Truebloods. In this way, whites keep African Americans at a lower standard of education, living, and state of mind, affectively removing any competition.
I completley agree with you Evie. I think Ellison sucessfully exposes the flaws in a system whites created for black people through the invisible man's experiences at the college. I think Ellison does so in order to establish the limitations of his race during the post Civil-War period. The invisible man discusses Trueblood's story and his experiences at the college perhaps in order to provide some context as to why he decides to become "ivisible." Ellison definitely uses language and image to convertly expose weaknesses in the college as well as its personnel. I like how he uses this "well hidden supression" because it provides more fiber to the literature itself. It is more thought provoking this way and it sucessfully transitions the invisible man's view of white people from positive to an eventual negative.
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