<p>sseamom, I think that we may actually have fairly similar political views. I think that we are both interested in bringing up young adults who can see beyond their own experiences and points of view, and who are committed to freedom, equality, and justice. We do seem to differ on the means of doing that.</p>
<p>I think that it is possible to expand a person’s horizons without shocking the person. I think it can be done effectively with gentleness.</p>
<p>The English teacher in question told the students that if they visited London, they <em>must</em> see Madame Tussaud’s Chamber of Horrors. I got dragged there once at age 22, and never plan to go back. I have taken QMP to London twice. Madame Tussaud’s was nowhere on our list, and I seriously do not think it would be if I lived in London for 10 years.</p>
<p>Can someone help me out with an allusion in Invisible Man, please? At one point, Lucius Brockway at Liberty Paints says, “these here Nineteen-Hundred boys ain’t no good for the job.” I am not sure what that is referring to. Is it a number of the local union, or is it something totally different?</p>
<p>I tried to Google this, but didn’t find anything useful to clarify this in particular.</p>
<p>QM, my husband, who is a student of black history/writing and who just read the book (again), says that the Nineteen Hundred boys are the college educated blacks who were going north and taking jobs away from the “uneducated” black locals. He believes the 1900 refers to Booker T. Washington’s 1896 writing that essentially justified “separate but equal”. That might be because, he says the college the narrator attends and is asked to leave is probably Tuskegee, though Ellison never admitted it.</p>
<p>He would be an excellent addition to this discussion but he tends to think of my internet friends as make believe, lol.</p>
<p>Just a quick update: I am currently serving on a faculty search committee, which involves a heavy reading load of applicant files right now, and that is slowing my reading of Invisible Man.</p>
<p>However, I have to say that I regard Chapters 10 (Liberty Paints) and 11 (the factory hospital) of this book as brilliant–loaded with meaning and symbolism, and strong in impact. Chapter 10 made me aware of the limits of my understanding of the protagonist, since I initially read Lucius Brockway (the engineer in the basement of the paint factory) as a fitting the type of “tough drill sergeant with the recruit’s best interests at heart” and did not expect the outbreak of violence. Even at this point, I am not quite sure how much of the protagonist’s anger was really incited by Brockway, as opposed to being a delayed response to Bledsoe and to the men at the union meeting. This is prompting some rethinking on my part, and not solely about the book.</p>
<p>Back later when I have been able to read further.</p>