How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #10
They were all such a part of that other life that's dead that I can't remember them all. (Time was as I was, but neither that time nor that "I" are any more.) (2.7)
The narrator considers himself to be radically different from the college version of himself – so different that he considers the college version basically dead.
Quote #11
Many of the men had been doctors, lawyers, teachers, Civil Service workers; there were several cooks, a preacher, a politician, and an artist. One very nutty one had been a psychiatrist. Whenever I saw them I felt uncomfortable. They were supposed to be members of the professions toward which at various times I vaguely aspired myself, and even though they never seemed to see me I could never believe that they were really patients. (3.35)
The narrator's belief that occupations serve as good tip-offs of a person's insanity is confused when he goes into the Golden Day. To file under Interesting Theories: Some critics believe that the Golden Day vets represent the black lawyers, politicians, doctors, preachers, etc. that might have come into existence had they not been repressed by white society.
Quote #12
He registers with his senses but short-circuits his brain. Nothing has meaning. He takes it in but he doesn't digest it. Already he is – well, bless my soul! Behold! A walking zombie! Already he's learned to repress not only his emotions but his humanity. He's invisible, a walking personification of the Negative, the most perfect achievement of your dreams, sir! The mechanical man! (3.299)
The vet in the Golden Day is the very first to call the narrator invisible, criticizing him for being exactly what white people hope blacks to be.