A major theme in the novel was blindness. An example of this was shown in the statue of the Founder. The statue had empty eyes and symbolized his ideology being blind to racist realities. Secondly, Tim himself is found to often be blind through out the novel. During the Battle Royal he is blinded by the bright lights while giving his speech. Having the lights in his eyes causes him to not be able to see the humiliation the white men have caused him, and how they really don’t have any respect for him. The last of three examples of blindness in the story is of Tim being on the bus with the veteran, who is being transferred to St. Elizabeth’s in Washington DC, when traveling to New York. He is blinded in even thinking of asking why the vet why it is he did return to the south. Even though he does realize that the vet is only being transferred because Bledsoe found out he was the veteran that upset Norton, he can’t link the fact that Bledsoe is also transferring him to punish him as he is doing with the veteran. Through this blindness Tim can only think about the vet possibly becoming v
iolent and having to sit by him because of the bus being segregated. when arriving at the plant in Long Island he describes it as being foggy, and Ellison uses the fog as another symbol of Tim being blind to what lays ahead of him in the paint factory. Tim first sees the sign, “Keep America pure with Liberty Paints,” and the company is proudest of their optic white paint. This shows the fact that that America could only uphold importance with having a race of only white men. The American bald eagle is also another symbol that represents the Untied States as the screaming bald eagle represents the paint factory.The factory also uses the slogan of “If it’s optic white, it’s the right white,” which reminds Tim of the Southern slogan, “If you’re white you’re right,” but cannot but see that the Southern slogan really represents how the factory feels about black. When Brockway doesn’t refuses to listen to him during the confrontation it is the same way that Bledsoe did not listen to him in their final confrintation.Brockway’s close relationship with Old Man Sparland is t
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