![]() The process Ellison uses to transform these myths warrants our close attention. Similarly, Trueblood, who would undoubtedly be condemned for his behavior if he were white, is instead rewarded for reinforcing and perpetuating the white stereotype of blacks as sexual animals who must be segregated from "civilized" (white) society, and especially from white women. But Norton, representing a perversion of the Santa Claus myth, rewards his children for bad behavior. Just as Norton sees Trueblood as an incarnation of the sexually insatiable black buck, the narrator (and Trueblood himself) sees Norton as the incarnation of Santa Claus, the benevolent, paternalistic white man who bestows gifts on children to reward them for good behavior. Consequently, he is eager to get back to the campus so that Norton can see "civilized," educated blacks, hoping Norton will forget about Trueblood.īy comparing Trueblood and Norton, Ellison explores two cultural myths that are equally false. The narrator also fears that Trueblood's behavior might convince Mr. Instead of empathizing with him or being sympathetic to his pain, the narrator dismisses Trueblood as a brutal, animalistic creature. Ironically, the narrator, who experienced the same type of treatment at the hands of the men at the smoker, is totally oblivious to Trueblood's situation. Broadnax (Broad-in-acts), philanthropists who make a public display of helping blacks while referring to them as "niggers." Norton, whom the narrator describes as a "Bostonian, smoker of cigars" has much in common with the men at the smoker and with Mr. ![]() Norton's one-hundred-dollar reward indicates that Norton is no different from the other white men who have exploited Trueblood's pain for their own vicarious pleasure. Despite his extreme poverty, Trueblood is the only man in the entire novel - black or white - who has a family and provides for them to the best of his ability. Trueblood's behavior before and after the incident with his daughter characterizes him as an intelligent, hard-working, loving man. Through Trueblood, Ellison explores our all-too-human tendency to judge an individual on the basis of a single, isolated act. Trueblood's story is central to all these issues. ![]() Raising several critical issues concerning love, family loyalty, mortal sin, and morality, this chapter explores the concept of moral absolutes: Are certain acts morally wrong, regardless of circumstances, or are there shades of right and wrong? Finally, the text addresses the complex themes of black sexuality and manhood. Deciding that downtown is too far to go, the narrator heads for the Golden Day, a local black bar with a dubious reputation. Before departing, Norton gives Trueblood a hundred-dollar bill, then instructs the narrator to get him some whiskey to calm his nerves. Horrified, fascinated, and mesmerized, Norton listens to the sharecropper's story of his incestuous encounter with his daughter, Matty Lou. Norton orders him to stop the car so that he can talk to Trueblood. As the narrator drives by Jim Trueblood's log cabin, Mr. Norton tells him about his dead daughter. Norton to the old slave quarters on the outskirts of the campus. Norton, a visiting white trustee, the narrator chauffeurs Mr. Continuing his quest for acceptance and identity, and eager to impress Mr. Hall.As the chapter opens, the narrator is a student at the black college to which he received a scholarship. Instead, he asks her about getting his luggage from the railroad station.She tries to get him to talk about what happened (nosy much?), but he doesn't want to talk about his "accident" with a gossipy innkeeper. Hall assumes that this guy was in an accident. Luckily, he's covered the lower part of his face with a serviette (a napkin), so she doesn't have to deal with what's there.The thick black hair, escaping as it could below and between the cross bandages, projected in curious tails and horns, giving him the strangest appearance conceivable. Ll his forehead above his blue glasses was covered by a white bandage, and another covered his ears, leaving not a scrap of his face exposed excepting only his pink, peaked nose. Hall is surprised by his appearance when she sees him in his room without his hat: The stranger looks, well, strange, but he's got money, so Mrs.At least one person says he looks like he's wearing a diving helmet (the old-fashioned kind, of course.) He's also wearing spectacles with sidelights, which basically look like goggles. The stranger is totally covered, with only his shiny nose showing.(If you've read War of the Worlds, you know that Wells often likes to set his stories in real, or real-ish, places, so it's no surprise that Iping is a real town in England.) The book starts with a stranger arriving in a snowstorm at the Coach and Horses, an inn/bar in Iping.
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