The Machines In Ralph Ellison's The Invisible Man

Industry is driven by the machines that produce the product. Without these machines, creating what is necessary for an industry to thrive and grow becomes increasingly difficult; more man power is needed, more time is consumed. For these machines to function properly, all the pieces; the cogs, the gears, the wheels, the levers and so on within them must be working well together. In the Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison applies this idea in a sociological fashion. Tucked away underneath the surface of the prosperous face of the country lie the machines, but the machines within the machines are the people who struggle to keep them moving every day. The people who are underground are the ones who drive these machines, who work themselves ragged to make sure all the
If the pressure builds up to a level to high, the machines will be ruined. It is their job, there in the underground, to make sure the machines that drive the factories production are kept in running order. Brockway also shows the narrator the machine that grinds and melts down the raw material of the paint. This is a profound moment in the novel, one where Ellison’s message sounds loudly. The narrator’s surprise at the fact that the paint initial creation begins deep in the bowels of the factory is diffused by Brockway’s explanation. On page 210 he says, “ ‘Naw, they just mixes in the color, make it look pretty. Right down here is where the real paint is made. Without what I do they couldn’t do nothing, they be making bricks without straw.’” Ellison, through the voice of Lucius Brockway, is again bringing up the underground nature of African American’s work during this time. The skeleton of the country, the backbone of the economy, the base for the nation’s production is kept hidden away; it remains underground where its face can’t be seen, where it’s voice can’t make