The Intuitionist

“On many occasions Lila Mae has returned to the Pit from an errand only to hear Big Billy Porter regaling the boys about the glory days of the Guild, before. While his comments are never specific, it is clear to everyone just what and who Big Billy is referring to in his croaking, muddy voice.”

While Lila Mae frequently faces explicit racism, the implicit racism she encounters as the only Black woman in the Elevator Inspectors’ Guild is ubiquitous. It usually comes in the form of appeals to the past—a past which is generally defined as an era before a modicum of opportunities were finally shared with individuals who are not white men. Whitehead overwhelms the reader with these moments to illustrate the double consciousness Lila Mae experiences, as she tries to reconcile her true identity with the person society views her to be.

“Because her father taught her that white folks can turn on you at any moment. She fears for her life in O’Connor’s because she believes that the unexpected scrape of a chair across the floor or a voice’s sudden intensity contains the potentiality of a fight.”

While the previous quote illustrates the ever-present racial anxiety experienced by Lila Mae, this quote shows that the anxiety goes far beyond enduring uncomfortable comments by individuals like Big Billy. In O’Connor’s, where alcohol flows freely and where Lila Mae is frequently the only Black person, the racial tensions can quickly erupt into a matter of life and death. Whitehead renders this vividly by investing enormous suspense in otherwise trivial details like a chair scraping across the floor.

“Did Pompey resent Lila Mae for presenting them with a more exotic token, thus diluting their hatred toward him, the hatred that had calcified over time into something he came to cherish and savor as friendship; or were his haughty stares and keen disparagements his attempt at a warning against becoming him, and thus an aspect of racial love?”

Lila Mae’s relationship to Pompey is one of the most illuminating character dynamics in the book. She reduces him to a conciliatory “Uncle Tom” figure, thereby completely misinterpreting his reasons for resenting her.