Examples Of Lucious Brockway In Invisible Man

A hallmark of Ralph Ellison’s novel, Invisible Man, is the author’s selection of characters, many of whom are alienated from American society. These characters, whether major or minor, collectively portray American ideas in the early 20th-century. A prime example of Ellison’s characterization is Lucious Brockway, who employs his personal creed to alienate himself, demonstrating American assumptions and morals also.

Lucious Brockway primarily relies on his creed and beliefs when familiarizing himself with the narrator. Brockway insists that he is the key to the entire Liberty Paints operation, assured that the company would collapse without his work. Because he works in the factory basement, Brockway is literally and metaphorically the base of the company, carrying the burden of the company’s weight and yet being overshadowed by outward aesthetics. Brockway’s third-person, self-assuring statements are true, but the fact that his work is masked by the rest of the factory shows how he is subservient to the majority of society and confining himself to a limited role.

From the reader’s perspective, it’s an accurate inference that there’s an undertone of racism in Brockway’s spiel.

One of few black workers at Liberty Paints, Brockway is the only person antagonized by the others’ worker union. He criticizes his fellow black workers for being ungrateful for the white management giving them jobs, vilifying the young men for- in Brockway’s view- threatening the black race. There was initially professional respect between Brockway and the narrator; however, when the former hears the latter is just vaguely involved with the union, Brockway condemns the narrator’s betrayal and threatens him to

leave.
Within Invisible Man, the dialogue between the narrator and Lucious Brockway serves not only to characterize Mr. Brockway, but also to shed light on misconceptions and moral issues in American society. Brockway is an exception to the idea that people- especially blacks- have to be educated to be successful, an idea which the narrator had been taught and had believed. A black woman named Mary later tells the narrator how black people- like Brockway- lose sight of past societal grievances and seek only to find their tiny niche in the world. Clinging indignantly to his job at Liberty Paints, Brockway embodies Mary’s feelings and shows how individuals in a minority prevent the whole group from gaining true equality in America. Racism remains present, as powerful whites provide labor and financial security to colored people in subordinating roles, and people like Brockway accept those roles, continuing the oppression of minorities in American society.