Quote 10
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 11
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.
Quote 12
Here within this quiet greenness I possessed the only identity I had ever known, and I was losing it. In this brief moment of passage I became aware of the connection between these lawns and buildings and my hopes and dreams. I wanted to stop the car and talk with Mr. Norton, to beg his pardon for what he had seen; to plead and show him tears, unashamed tears like those of a child before his parent; to denounce all we'd seen and heard; to assure him that far from being like any of the people we had seen, I hated them, that I believed in the principles of the Founder with all my heart and soul, and that I believed in his own goodness and kindness in extending the hand of his benevolence to helping us poor, ignorant people out of the mire and darkness…If only he were not angry with me! If only he would give me another chance! (4.2)
The narrator's college self is incredibly naïve; here he distinguishes himself (in his mind) from the "bad" black people who are poor, uneducated, and commit incest. He desperately believes in the idea of racial uplift through the helping hand of the white man (in this case, that white man would be named Mr. Norton).