Dehumanization complete

I have started to notice a recurring theme in the novel: the dehumanization of black people. Through examples and thoughts, Ellison has proven that the protagonist has been losing his identity, along with everyone else. The subject is first introduced when Mr. Emerson's assistant claims "Identity! My God! Who has any identity anymore anyway?" (187) The reader then realizes he still does not know the protagonist's name, so what is his identity? Does he even have one? The reader undergoes these realizations just as the protagonist does too.

The protagonist has begun to realize that he has been forced to be that whom the whites want him to be, thinking it was what he wanted too. The first time that he is against those social rules, is when he thinks "So I wasn't supposed to think! To hell with him." (200) Although said to a black man, this revelation might be an answer to more than just this situation. The protagonist has decided that he will think his way through life, instead of just accepting the situations handed out to him.

For the whites, the world is a machine controlled by them, and them only. This comes up to the protagonist during his only day in the factory, in which Mr. Brockway tells him "we the machines inside the machine." (217) Programed by whites. blacks have the function of being useful for whites in any way they need them to be. Interesting too about the factory, the desired product is extremely white paint, as even the logo says "'If It's Optic White, It's the Right White.'" (217) This alludes to the idea that only those who are "George Washington white" deserve to be treated as humans. 

The dehumanization and loss of identity of the blacks continues in certain ways that Ellison describes a specific scene. Instead of just saying things straight, Ellison chooses to make it ambiguous so that is can relate to a greater idea. This happens when the protagonist describes his actions as "moving toward him, shouting, more at a black blur that irritated my eyes than at a clearly defined human face." (225) When he sees a black person, he is just seeing the idea of a black person, or the social construct that defines the description of a black person. This is also how Ellison wants us to see the protagonist: not as a specific character but of the representation of the thoughts and actions of a black man in that setting.

Spectators are glad to find out that blacks truly are how the picture them in society, just like everyone feels reassured when they discover that a Latino dances well or that Gringo is lazy and has bad eating habits. This feeling is described by Ellison when someone says "They really do have rhythm, don't they? Get hot, boy" Get hot!" (237) In this way, the protagonist becomes the good-rhythm, hard-working, identity-less black that whites want him to be. Dehumanization complete.