How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #19
"Now measure ten drops into the paint…There, that's it, not too goddam fast. Now. You want no more than ten, and no less."
Slowly, I measured the glistening black drops, seeing them settle upon the surface and become blacker still, spreading suddenly out to the edges. (10.48 – 10.49)
Pure white paint requires ten black drops. Many critics think this is a metaphor for black Americans' contributions to white America. We're inclined to agree, especially when you consider the figure of Lucius Brockway toiling in the basement, controlling all the paint production and clearly not exactly accruing all the benefits.
Quote #20
A black statue of a nude Nubian slave grinned out at me from beneath a turban of gold. I passed on to a window decorated with switches of wiry false hair, ointments guaranteed to produce the miracle of whitening black skin. "You too can be truly beautiful," a sign proclaimed. "Win greater happiness with whiter complexion. Be outstanding in your social set." (13.3)
In this society, whiteness is prized, celebrated, and sought after.
Quote #21
I felt that somehow they expected me to perform even those tasks for which nothing in my experience – except perhaps my imagination – had prepared me. Still it was nothing new, white folks seemed always to expect you to know those things which they'd done everything they could think of to prevent you from knowing. The thing to do was to be prepared (14.185)
The narrator says there is a double standard between white people's expectations and restrictions of black people.