Indiana State University

The Urban Gothic Vision of Colson Whitehead's "The Intuitionist" (1999)

Author(s): Saundra Liggins
Source: African American Review, Vol. 40, No. 2 (Summer, 2006), pp. 359-369
Published by: St. Louis UniversitySt. Louis University
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40033724
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The Urban Gothic Vision of Colson Whitehead's
TheIntuitionist (1999)

Butwe do have in the Negro the embodimentof a past tragic

enough to appeasethe spiritualhungerof even a James; SaundraLigginsis
and we have in the oppressionof the Negro a shadow athwartour
Associate Professor of
nationallife dense and heavy enough to satisfyeven the gloomy
English at the State
broodingsof a Hawthorne.And if Poe were alive,he would not
have to inventhorror;horrorwould inventhim. University of New York,
-RichardWright,NativeSonxxxiv Fredonia.

listing HenryJames,NathanielHawthorne,and Edgar

Allan Poe as culturalreferencesin his essay "How Bigger
Was Born"RichardWrightdoes not merely addressthe similari-
ties between the richnessand depth of AfricanAmericanlitera-
ture and the historicaland culturalfocus of these authors.As
implicitin his use of the word "horror"to describethe racialhis-
tory of the United States,Wrightwas also drawing an important
connectionbetween blackAmericaand the literarytradition
known as the gothic. On its surfacegothic literatureseems an
unlikely contextin which to find a discussion of the African
Americanexperience.Originatingas a formalliterarytradition
first in Europewith HoraceWalpole's TheCastleofOtranto,pub-
lished in 1764,and consistingof such figures as castlesand
abbeys,tyrannicalaristocrats,and damsels in distress,the genre's
main purpose is to terrify,to reflectthe threatsand anxietythat
individuals and societies often confront.With CharlesBrockden
Brown'sWieland,or theTransformation (1798),the Americangothic
literary tradition began, thus transplantingthe genre onto US soil
and transformingmany of the earlierconventions.Ruraltowns
and plantationsreplacedcastles and abbeys,and landed gentry
and slave owners stood in for Europeanaristocracy.The gothic
literaturethat would arise out of each of these contexts,even with
their differences,took its inspirationfrom the social and political
climatesof the late eighteenthcentury.
Despite the temporaland contextualdistancefrom its
Europeanand Americangothic counterpartsof the nineteenth
and early twentiethcenturies,contemporaryAfricanAmerican
literatureresonateswith many characteristicsof the gothic aes-
thetic.The past still influencesthe present and future,and issues
of identity still createconflictswithin the individual.What con-
temporaryAfricanAmericangothic literatureoffers is a new set
of questions:Whatdoes it mean to be a modernblackAmerican?
Have class and gender differencesreplacedracialdistinctionsas
the main threatsto societal stability,for blacks and whites? How
is futureracialuplift to be achieved?In diverse ways, Wrightand
othernovelists- Toni Morrison,GloriaNaylor, and RalphEllison,
in particular- have widened the perceptionof the gothic genre.1

African American Review, Volume 40, Number 2

2006 Saundra Liggins 359
 Likethese black authorsbeforehim,
Colson Whiteheaddemonstratesa
gothic sensibilityin his 1999novel The
Intuitionist.Set againstthe unusual
backdropof an investigationinto ele-
vator operations,TheIntuitionistis an
allegoricaltale of blacks'struggle for
upward mobility.Whiteheaduses an
urbangothic landscapeand traditional
gothic conventionsto portraythe alien-
ation of the modernblackAmerican
due to the progressin urbancities and
to speculateon the futureof US race
relations.
In TheIntuitionistLilaMae Watson
is an elevatorinspectorwho becomes
embroiledin big-city politics when an
elevatorthat she has passed free-falls,
fortunatelywithout any passenger
injuries.Lila Mae's occupationas an
elevatorinspector,and her subsequent
investigationinto the accident,is a
clever varianceof the detective figure
and the detective genre, seen through-
out AfricanAmericanliterature,but
also closely tied to the gothic
narrative. As LilaMae's inquirydeep-
ens, she clasheswith dangerouschar-
actersand learnsof plans for a new ele-
vator design called "theblackbox."
These plans lie at the heartof a power
strugglewithin the elevatorindustry,
and underscorea much largersocial
battle.In this singularnovel,
Whiteheadoffers a tale that is part
detectivenovel, part racialprotest
novel.3
Forearly Americangothic writers
the New Worldwas a wild frontier.
Novels such as BrockdenBrown's
EdgarHuntly, or, Memoirsof a
Sleepwalker(1799), and James Fenimore
Cooper's TheLast of the Mohicans (1826)
have depicted what Donald Ringe calls
"thedarkeraspects of the American
landscape-theterribleinsecurityfelt by
the whites who find themselves alone
in the threateningwilderness,the ter-
ror inspiredin them by the hostile
Indians"(109).Although ruralenviron-
ments have perhapsmore often been
the setting of Americangothic litera-
ture,best exemplifiedin southerngoth-
ic novels by WilliamFaulkner,Eudora
360 AMERICAN
AFRICAN REVIEW
Welty, and FlanneryO'Connor,as
urbancities developed, their concrete
and steel terrainsand turbulentsocial
conditionsprovided a richbackdrop
for the Americangothic. Particularly
during the 1930sand 1940s,the Los
Angeles novel, representedby such
texts as NathanaelWest's TheDayof the
Locustand RaymondChandler'sThe
Big Sleep,and its cinematiccounterpart,
film noir,reflectedan urbangothic sen-
timent.The US metropoliswas brood-
ing and pessimistic,rife with scandal,
deceptionand treachery.In keeping
with this novelistic tradition,
Whiteheaddisplays his own vision of
America'sdismal landscapein The
Intuitionist.
The northerncity in particularhas
been the source of much inspirationin
AfricanAmericanliterature,codifying
ideas of both hope and frustration.In
the nineteenthcentury,slave narratives
depicted the North as a refuge, a
Heaven to which slaves escaped, if
they could. In his 1845narrative,
FrederickDouglass describeshis reac-
tion to seeing New Bedford,
Connecticut,for the first time: "From
the wharves I strolledaroundand over
the town, gazing with wonder and
amazement.. . . Everythinglooked
clean,new, and beautiful"(111).Into
the twentieth century,the North was a
land of disappointmentand bitterness,
as AfricanAmericansrealizedthat the
region was not completelyfree of
racismor other forms of oppression.In
his autobiographicalBlackBoy(1945),
Wrightdescribeshis arrivalin Chicago
in 1927:"Myfirst glimpse of the flat
black stretchesof Chicagodepressed
me and dismayed me, mocked all my
fantasies.Chicagoseemed an unreal
city whose mythicalhouses were built
of slabs of black coal wreathedin palls
of gray smoke, houses whose founda-
tions were sinking slowly into the dank
prairie.. . . The din of the city entered
my consciousness,enteredto remain
for years to come"(261).In The
Intuitionist,LilaMae's father,Marvin,
likewise cautionshis daughterabout
leaving their southernhome for the
North aftershe has been acceptedinto
the Instituteof VerticalTransport,a
college for the study of elevators."It's
not so differentup there,LilaMae,"he
warns. "Theyhave the same white peo-
ple up there that they got down here. It
might look different.It might feel dif-
ferent.But it's the same"(234).Despite
this admonition,she sees the North as
her opportunityto progress.She
explains, "Imoved up here because
here is where the elevatorsare. The
real elevators"(168).
TheIntuitionistoperateswithin two
time periods. Its 1999publicationdate,
at the conclusionof arguablyone of the
most prosperousdecades in American
history,allows it to speak to the contin-
uing alienationof the classes of people
who were not the beneficiariesof social
and economicgains. Whiteheadpor-
trays a northerncity that was perhaps
once a promisingurbancenterbut in
the novel's presentis a metropolishit
hardby economicdownturns.
Employmentis scarceand influenced
by racialand gender discrimination
and the policies establishedat mid-cen-
tury to counterthis prejudice.
Cronyismand patronageare rampant
in business and politics. Minority
groups and the poor struggle against
social and economicrepressionthat
leaves them isolated and vulnerableto
abuse. The contrastbetween economic
prosperityand inner-citydespairthat
the authordepicts contributesto a
gothic landscapeinfused with mystery,
fear,and apprehension.
Withoutspecifying the year in
which this novel's story takes place,
Whiteheaduses subtle details of dic-
tion, automobilemake, and dress
styles, and so on, to depict a 1950'sor
60's urbanenvironment.In addition,
the city setting is never named,
althoughWhiteheadcoyly refersto it
as "themost famous city in the world,
with magnificentelevated trains,five
daily newspapers,two baseballstadi-
ums," and "themost famous streetin
the world" (12,23, 163).The time of
year, too, is ambiguous,the narrator
revealingonly that "everythingin the
THEURBANGOTHIC
VISIONOF COLSONWHITEHEAD'S
gardenis dying, that'swhat time of
year it is" (58).One of the few refer-
ences to the popular cultureof the era
comes from the appearanceof a
singing group called "RickRaymond
and the Moon-Rays,"who performs"a
song from a movie musicalthat was
populara few years back"at an eleva-
tor industryparty (150).The history of
the city and the largersurrounding
areaare referredto only by referringto
"theinfamoussale of the island"(47).
Whiteheaddelivers characterswho
are estrangedfrom the majorityof soci-
ety. Reminiscentof Ellison'sInvisible
Man,anothernovel with (black)gothic
overtones,the individuals who inhabit
the fictionalworld of TheIntuitionist
only exist in surroundingsthat are hid-
den, underground,and peripheral.The
hierarchyof the Departmentof
ElevatorInspectors,for example,posi-
tions white employees above ground
while blackmen are relegatedto the
motor pool in the "rankgloom of the
garage"located at the bottom of the
building:"Thisspace in the garageis
what the Departmenthas allowed the
colored men- it is underground,there
are no windows permittingsky, and
the sick light is all the more enervating
for it- but the mechanicshave done
theirbest to make it their own" (18).
This descriptionhighlights the
blackAmerican'srelationshipto the
largersociety. The dominantsociety is
determinedto keep AfricanAmericans,
and perhapsall minorities- although
no others are discussed in the text- at
the bottom, in the dark,and out of
sight. By making the most of their situ-
ation, "mak[ing]it their own," the
blackmen take ownershipof their
work conditions,of theirvery exis-
tence, out of the hands of the white
heads of the Department.They periodi-
cally revolt againsttheir imposed sub-
ordinationby defacinga poster depict-
ing theirboss, the chairof the Elevator
InspectorsGuild. Whiteheadwrites:
A close inspection of Chancre'scam-
paign posters, which are taped to
every other cement column despite
regulationsagainstcampaignliterature
THEINTUITIONIST
(1999) 361
 within a hundred yards of
Headquarters, reveals myriad tiny
insurrections, such as counterclock-
wise swirls in the middle of Chancre's
pupils, an allusion to his famous noc-
turnal dipsomania.. . . Horns, boiling
cysts, the occasionalcusswordinked in
across Chancre'sslat teeth- they add
up after awhile. . . . No one notices
them but they're there, near-invisible,
and countfor something.(18)
Whiteheadpresentsa pictureof subtle
determinationand resiliencesustained
by various charactersthroughoutthe
text. This conflictbetween those who
work undergroundin the garageand
those who work in the building itself is
symbolicof the largerstrugglethat
gothic literaturedepicts.WhatJuliann
Fleenorhas written about the night-
marethat the female gothic exhibits
can equallybe ascribedto Whitehead's
presentation:the discord depicted in
the literatureis "createdby the individ-
ual in conflictwith the values of her
society and her prescribedrole"(10).
The blackworkersat the Department
of ElevatorInspectorsare struggling
within the confinesof theirposition to
find and reaffirmtheirvoices and very
identity.
Also linking TheIntuitionistwith
the gothic traditionis the mannerin
which Whiteheadmolds the notion of
evil into the shape of a modern patri-
archy,producinga climateof terror
and seclusion that devalues not only
women but blacksas well. In becoming
an elevatorinspector- the first female
and only the second black- LilaMae
has escaped the plight of those in the
motorpool, only to face her own isola-
tion. She experiencesno camaraderie
or even a professionalrapportwith her
fellow inspectors.This separateness
began even before LilaMae joined the
ranksof the elevatorinspectors,how-
ever. As a student at the Institutefor
VerticalTransport,LilaMae had to live
in a convertedjanitor'scloset above the
gymnasiumbecause therewere no liv-
ing quartersfor "colored"students.
She was a specteron campus,seen by
other students and yet not acknowl-
edged. Racerelationsat the school
362 AFRICAN
AMERICAN
REVIEW
were characterizednot only by whites'
disregardfor blacks,but by a blatant
fear and hostility towardsblacks.
Using language that recallsthe dis-
course of 19th-centuryslavery,the nar-
ratortells us that "theadmissionof col-
ored students to the Institutefor
VerticalTransportwas staggeredto
prevent overlap and any possible ful-
minationsor insurrectionsthat might
arise from that overlap"(44).Despite
this staggeredadmission,the white
facultyis unable to tell the black stu-
dents apart,and they frequentlycall
LilaMae by the name of the previous
black student, a male.
LilaMae is able to use this invisi-
bility to her advantageas she embarks
on her own investigationinto the crash
of the elevator.At the FunicularFollies,
the Department'sannualbanquet/vari-
ety show, she is mistakenfor a maid
and is thereforeable to operatebehind
the scenes and witness the outlandish
actionsof her colleagues.Examining
herselfin the mirrorafterdonning the
maid's uniformthat has been mistak-
enly thrustinto her hands, and noting
that she is not wearing shoes appropri-
ate for such work, she shrugs off the
contradiction,remindingherself that
those in attendance"won'tbe looking
at [my] shoes. They won't be looking at
me at all."Throughoutthe night she
repeatsthis observation,deciding not
to put her hairback in a bun, more
appropriatefor her position as a wait-
ress or maid, because "[t]heydo not
see her."Even though these are the
same men with whom she works side-
by-side during the day, "[i]nhere they
do not see her. She is the coloredhelp"
(Whitehead153).
LilaMae's misidentificationas a
maid signifies what Hana Wirth-
Nesher describesas "theparadoxof
the simultaneousvisibility and invisi-
bility of the black to the white in public
space."In discussing the examination
of double consciousnessin Ellison's
InvisibleMan,Wirth-Nesherwrites,
"Althoughvisible due to race,the
black figure in the landscapeis ren-
dered invisible by being 'naturalized'
into a familiaricon- the shoeshine
boy, the 'JUyNigger/ or variationsof
Sambo"(96).Whiteheadthus depicts
the blackfemale figure in white society
renderedinvisible and "naturalized"as
a maid;thus, he illustratesthe narrow-
mindedness and racismwithin the
Departmentand indeed within the
largerUS society.4
If race and gender erase LilaMae,
race distinguishesas hypervisiblea
blackfaceduo, "Mr.Gizzardand
Hambone,"actuallytwo white elevator
inspectors,who performat the ban-
quet. Theirperformanceaccentuates
the dividing line between the predomi-
nantly white audienceof elevator
inspectorsand the blackwaiters,wait-
resses, and busboys. The duo enter-
tains the crowd in the traditionalmin-
strel fashion:"Theskinny man wears a
white T-shirtand gray trousers.
Clothespinshold his suspendersto his
pants. The fat man wants to be a
dandy, but his green and purple suit is
too small for him, exposing his thick
ankles and wrists. Theirelbows row
back and forthin unison and their feet
skip 'cross the stage to the music. Their
faces are smearedblackwith burnt
cork,and white greasepaintcircles
theirmouths in ridiculouslips" (154).
To raucousapplause,they performa
routinethat includes dances and jokes,
completewith requisite"Negro
dialect"and pejorativestereotypes.
One such joke:"Hambone,you ole nig-
gah, where you git dat nice hat you got
on yo head?"His partneranswers, "I
got it at dat new hat stoe on Elm
Street.""Tellme, Hambone,did it cost
much?""Idon know, Mr. Gizzard- de
shopkeeperwasn't dar!"(154).
The responseto this performance
signals Whitehead'ssense of the con-
trastbetween white and black.The
world that LilaMae and her fellow
AfricanAmericanslive in is one in
which whites still acceptsuch racial
exhibitionsas "Mr.Gizzardand
Hambone"as acceptedsources of
entertainment,and as such, the white
audienceenthusiasticallyreceivesthe
minstrelperformance.In appreciation,
THEURBANGOTHIC
VISIONOF COLSONWHITEHEAD'S
the elevatorinspectors"[go]mad" and
give the pair a standing ovation. In
contrast,"the [. . .] coloredworkersdo
not speak on what they have just seen"
(156).LilaMae's reactionis similarto
that of her fellow coloredworkers,
reflectingtheirmutual disbelief,
shame, and anger.Despite her seem-
ingly outspokenpersonalityand her
more advancedposition as an elevator
inspector,she "does not mention it
either,telling herselfit is because she
does not know the silent women she
has been working with, whom she has
not talked to all evening for her con-
centrationon the Follies"(156).She
rationalizesher silence, thinkingto her-
self that her reticence"is because she is
undercoverand speakingto them
might trip her up, a dozen other rea-
sons."Initiallybelieving that "theother
women are so beaten that they cannot
speak of the incident,"she finally real-
izes that "allof them, LilaMae includ-
ed, are silent for the same reason:
because this is the world they have
been born into, and thereis no chang-
ing that"(157).Although she is verbal-
ly silent, like the men who work in the
garage,LilaMae also ultimatelyper-
forms her own act of resistance.Before
giving a new fork to one of the atten-
dees of the dinner,she drags it through
grease and the contentsof the garbage
can.
Includedin the audienceis
Pompey, the city's firstblackelevator
inspector,who "rub[s]laughter-tears
from his eyes, [and]lean[s] against
[anotheraudiencemember]to steady
himself"(157).Pompey's seemingly
traitorousbehavior,appearingto enjoy
the blackfaceperformanceas much as
his white co-workers,ratherthan being
stunned into silence like the other
AfricanAmericans,is understood
when a clearerpictureof Pompey
develops. Called "littlePompey"(25)
by the white inspectors,he has
incurredthe disdain of LilaMae due to
his "appallingobsequiousnature,culti-
vated to exceptionaldegree"and a per-
sistent rumor(or truth)that he, upon
being invited to the office of the head
THEINTUITIONIST
(1999) 363
 of the inspectors, allowed himself to be cizes Pompey for "shuffljmg] for those
kicked in the behind. "The next day/' white people like a slave," Pompey
the story goes, "a small memo responds with his own critique. "What
appeared on Pompey's desk informing I done," he explains, "I done because I
him of his promotion to Inspector had no other choice. This is a white
Second Grade/'5 Significantly, Pompey man's world. They make the rules. You
equally dislikes Lila Mae, declaring come along, strutting like you own the
about the elevator accident and the place. Like they don't own you. But
impending they do." He
investigation Whitehead grafts traditional persists, frus-
that threatens trated by Lila
Lila Mae's gothic conventions onto an Mae's unwill-
career, "She's urban gothic landscape ingness to
finally getting to portray modern appreciate his
what's been struggles with
coming to her for African Americans' urban race and class
a long time" (26). as the first
The smoth-
alienation and to speculate black inspector.
ered, growing on the future of US race relations. "You had it
conflict between easy, snot-
Lila Mae and Pompey explodes when nosed kid that you are, he states,
she visits his home to confront him "because of me. Because of what I did
regarding her suspicions that he is for you" (195).
involved in inspecting the elevators of This clash between Lila Mae and
a mob-owned building and that he Pompey obviously echoes arguments
might have been responsible for sabo- between the early and later generations
taging the elevator that she had of African Americans who struggled
inspected. She is surprised that he lives for equal rights. Lila Mae feels embar-
only two blocks from her, although his rassed by Pompey's seemingly sub-
pleasant neighborhood is very differ- servient behavior, behavior that she
ent from her own desolate community; ultimately sees as part of very real sac-
there are children playing in the street rifices he has made. Pompey, on the
and people greet each other amiably. other hand, is resentful of the ease with
Unbeknownst to Lila Mae, Pompey has which Lila Mae has incorporated her-
a wife and children, who are the moti- self into the elevator industry, a pro-
vation for his sycophantic actions. gression perhaps made easier because
Confronting her accusations, he tells she is female, and her appearance of
Lila Mae that he took the extra job having no regard for the path that was
because he needs the money to take his paved before her. Both characters are
family out of the neighborhood that, so concerned with their own agendas
while looking nice, is undergoing a that neither of them can see their ulti-
change. "You see them kids play ball?" mate reliance on one another, or their
he asks Lila Mae. "Ten years from now place within a larger scheme set in
half of them be in jail, or dead, and the motion by those looking for the miss-
other half working as slaves just to ing elevator plans. As the novel draws
keep a roof over they heads. Ten years to a close, one of the men who wants to
from now they won't even be kids find the plans to the black box tells Lila
playing ball on the street. Won't be safe Mae how beneficial and utterly pre-
enough even to do that" (194). He con- dictable it was for her to suspect
tinues, defending his on-the-job Pompey, thereby steering her away
demeanor, "how am I supposed to act, from the real potential culprits. "Let
the way you carry yourself. Like you one colored in and you're integrated,"
some queen. Your nose up in the air? I he says. "Let two in, you got a race war
got two kids." And after Lila Mae criti- as they try to kiss up to whitey" (249).6

364 AMERICAN
AFRICAN REVIEW
 Whiteheadoffersno easy resolu-
tions to this intergenerationalconflict.
Laterin the novel, an unacknowl-
edged, if one-sided, trucehas been
called. LilaMae admits her misreading
of Pompey, acknowledgingthat she
was no betterthan her white co-work-
ers. Whiteheaddescribesthe role that
Pompey played in society:
The Uncle Tom, the grinning nigger,
the house nigger who is to blame for
her debased place in this world.
Pompey gave [whites] a blueprint for
colored folk. How they acted. How
they pleased white folks. How eager
they would be for a piece of the dream
that they would do anything for
massa. She hated her place in the
world, where she fell in the order of
things, and blamed Pompey, her
shucking shadow in the office. She
could not see him any more than any-
one else in the officesaw him. (239)
Whiteheadlater adds that LilaMae
"hatedsomethingin herself and she
took it out on Pompey"(240).
The divisiveness between LilaMae
and Pompey is a productof one of
Whitehead'smain tenets in The
Intuitionist,what he calls "thelie of
whiteness"(239).All of the characters,
white and black,are afflictedby a
blindness that prohibitsthem from
realizingtheirposition in society and
from determiningtheir own fate. All of
them are searchingfor a means of
escape, of rising above theirpresent
individual and social circumstances.
The potentialfor this transformation
might be found in the mysteriousplans
of the blackbox.
The very possibilityof change
informsLilaMae's quest for the elusive
blackbox. The searchfor the cause of
the elevator'sfall, and the resultantdis-
covery of the plans for a potentially
revolutionaryelevatormodel- the
blackbox- in the missing notebooksof
a deceased inventor,could createa
shift not only in the local politics of the
city, but also in the city's and the
nation'sracerelations.With this black
box, Whiteheadhas createdan inge-
nious metaphorfor racialuplift. The
investigationinto the validity and loca-
VISIONOF COLSONWHITEHEAD'S
THEURBANGOTHIC
tion of the plans for the blackbox func-
tions effectivelyas an explorationinto
the past, present,and futureof racial
progress,outlining the compromises,
losses, and gains inherentin such an
evolution.
Whiteheadhas created,then, an
intricatepostmoderntale, at the center
of which is the symbol of the elevator.
The structureof the elevatoris an elab-
orate,mechanical,and philosophical
fantasy,the design of which suggests
the very opposite of the elevator'sactu-
al function.Of the form of the tradi-
tional elevator,the Arbo Smooth-Glide,
LilaMae notes: it was "equipped[. . .]
with an oversized door to foster the
illusion of space, to distractthe passen-
ger from what every passengerfeels
acutely about elevators.Thatthey ride
in a box on a rope in a pit. Thatthey
are in the void" (5). The elevatorthat
Lila Mae describesis similarto the
garagewhere the maintenancepeople
work in the Departmentof Elevator
Inspectorsbuilding:each is designed to
give the appearanceof openness- the
elevatorby its large doors, and the
garageby its florescentlights- while
masking the true intent and design of
the space. On the one hand, the eleva-
tor is constructedto give the impres-
sion that it is not moving at all, all the
while hurtlingpassengersthroughthe
heights and depths of a building. The
Department'sgarage,on the other
hand, while seemingly a blacks-only
space where the workersexperience
freedom and autonomy,serves the
white power structureas a perfect
holding cell to the keep blacksin their
place. LilaMae and the otherblacksin
the city hope to find in the elusive
blackbox an escape from the void of
the garage.
The Arbo Smooth-Glideand the
mechanics'garagefurthersymbolize
Whitehead'scritiqueof late 20th-centu-
ry US social and politicalprograms
that promise more than they actually
deliver. The progressmade by the
1960'scivil rights movement and the
subsequentpassing of legislationsben-
eficial to racialand ethnicminority
THEINTUITIONIST
(1999) 365
 groups was temperedby economic
policies that kept any real progressto a
minimum.Likedysfunctionalsocial,
political,and economicpolicies, the
elevatorand the garageoffer the illu-
sionaryappeal of movement and
progress,while simultaneouslykeep-
ing things stagnant,or even moving
them backwards.
Whiteheadpresentsas an antidote
to this conservativeconditionthe
mythologicalblackbox. To the novel's
students of elevatorscience,the black
box is more than anothermeans of con-
veyance. It is "theperfectelevator,"
"onethat will deliver [people]from the
cities [they] suffernow, these stunted
shacks"(61).The dueling nationalele-
vator companies,Arbo and American,
areboth in searchof the plans for this
projectthat holds such hope, not just
for their respectivecompaniesand the
industryas a whole, but for all people.
Comparedto the first elevator,invent-
ed by ElishaOtis in the early nine-
teenth century,which "delivered[peo-
ple] from medieval five- and six-story
constructions,"this (post)modern
invention,developed by JamesFulton,
"will grant [people]the sky, unreck-
oned towers:the second elevation
[I]t'sthe future"(61).The second eleva-
tion representsunlimited potentialand
possibilityfor LilaMae and the other
residentsof the city, if not the world. It
suggests a lifting of the restrictionsand
constraintsplaced on blackAmericans
in contemporarysociety.7
The inventorof the blackbox,
JamesFulton,was a blackman who
had passed for white, holding the posi-
tion of outsiderin the industryof ele-
vator invention,as well as in the larger
society. His is a dual presencethrough-
out the novel, not only representingthe
evolution of the elevatorindustry,but
also personifyingthe early days of race
relations.When LilaMae learnsthat
Fultonwas black,she perceiveshim as
"a spy in white spaces,just like she is"
(139).8Not only is Fultona spy, but he
also signifies the spectralpresenceso
often presentin the gothic. As such,
throughoutthe text both he and his
366 AFRICAN
AMERICAN
REVIEW
inventionhaunt the characters,espe-
cially LilaMae. A unique bond devel-
ops between them, althoughthey
never meet in person.Forseveral
months, from the vantage point of her
room at the Institute,LilaMae would
see a mysteriousfigure moving
throughthe stacksof the library.On
the last night that she was to see him,
Fultonwaved back to her, "communi-
cat[ing]all he knew and what she
alreadyunderstoodabout the dark-
ness" (46);the next day Fultonwas
found dead on the libraryfloor. Fulton,
in turn,had inquiredabout the girl he
had seen throughthe window. When
the Dean of the InstituteidentifiesLila
Mae, Fultonsenses an affinityas well,
in part perhapsbecause of her race.He
absentmindedlywrites in the margin
of his notebook, "LilaMae Watson is the
one"(253).
Fulton'simaginativetheorieson
elevatorconstructionand operation
speak to the status of the black
Americanin US society;they reflectthe
race'smovement up- and down-the
social order.In his seminalmulti-vol-
ume text, TheoreticalElevators,he writes
that "horizontalthinkingin a vertical
world is the race's curse" thereby posit-
ing that what plagues the blackraceis
a lack of upward vision, an inabilityto
seek heights previously unreached
(151).He furtheraddressesthis defi-
ciency in Volume Two of his text:"The
racesleeps in this hectic and disordered
century. Grim lids that will not open.
Anxious retinasflit to andfro beneath
them. Theyare stirredby dreaming.In this
dreamof uplift, they understandthat they
are dreamingthe contractof the hallowed
verticality,and hope to rememberthe terms
on waking. Theracenever does, and that is
ourcurse"(186).With his innovative
creationhe proposes to lift this curse,
thus realizingthe dreamof uplift, "the
promise of verticality"(176).In truth,
he writes of, in sociological,non-eleva-
tor, terms,racialuplift. One character
says, in speakingof his searchfor the
blackbox and its importanceto the
black community,"theyalways saying
it's the future.It's the futureof the
cities.But it's our future,not theirs.It's
ours. And we need to take it back.
Whathe made, this elevator,colored
people made that.It's ours. And I'm
going to show that we ain'tnothing.
Show them. . .thatwe are alive" (140).
This second elevation,or black
box, mirrorsthe gothic's functionin
philosophy in that it responds to tradi-
tional modes of thought.Justas the
Fulton-designedelevatorserved as an
improvementover the early Otis con-
ception,so, too, did the gothic emerge
in the eighteenthand nineteenthcen-
turies as an improvement,or at least a
change,over earlierphilosophies.
Gothicfiction,as J. GeraldKennedy
writes in his essay about EdgarAllan
Poe, "enactsthe radicaluncertaintyof
an epoch of revolutionin which nearly
all forms of authority. . . came to be
seen as constrictingsystems"(40).
Fulton'sdesign challengesnot only the
authorityof the leaders of the elevator
industry and theirpresenttheoriesof
elevatorinspection,but the dominance
of traditionalnotions of race as well.
Despite the vagueness of the novel's
temporalsetting, TheIntuitionistclearly
reflectsa racialrevolution.Likethe
gothic,the elevatorresponds to the
fearsof an industrial,urban,multira-
cial western society. Fultonhas found a
betterway, and that way is the black
box.
Whatmakes Fulton'sinvention
even more intriguingthan its potential
is that it is based on a joke, an attempt
by Fultonto challengetraditional
notions of elevatorphilosophy. Priorto
Fulton'stheories,elevatorinspection
was based on Empiricism,physical
examinationsof elevatormachinery,its
materialcomponents,to determine
how the apparatusis working.As a
means of revealingthe deficienciesof
this approach,Fultonwrites a volume
promotingan opposing ideology-one
that he did not fully believe himself-
based on sensing the elevator'smove-
ments and interiordesign. When inves-
tigatingthe elevatorthat eventually
falls, LilaMae "listens"and "concen-
trate^] on the vibrationsmassaging
THEURBANGOTHIC
VISIONOF COLSONWHITEHEAD'S
her back."In her mind, the vibrations
take the shape of an "aqua-bluecone,"
and she visualizes the upward move-
ment of the elevatoras "a red spike."
Othershapes form as the elevator
ascends.LilaMae's intuitionis innate
and magical,for, the narratortells us,
"Youdon't pick the shapes and their
behavior.Everyonehas their own set
of genies" (6). One criticwould come
to deem the practice"Intuitionist"and
define it as "postrational,innate.
Human"(238).
It is not accidentalthat the lan-
guage that Whiteheaduses to describe
these differingphilosophies evokes the
dichotomythat exists between East
and West,black and white. What
Whiteheadpresentsis not solely a
potentialtechnologicalshift,but ulti-
mately an entireparadigmshift. Lila
Mae's own descriptionof the position
of the early inspectorsreveals the larg-
er implicationsof the developmentof
such a revolutionaryapproachas
Intuitionism."Theylooked at the skin
of things,"she says, furtherdelineating
the two methods not just along philo-
sophicallines, but racialones as well.
"Whitepeople's realityis built on what
things appearto be- that'sthe busi-
ness of Empiricism"(239).The men at
the FunicularFolliesjust "lookedat the
skin of things"when they failed to rec-
ognize LilaMae in a maid's uniform,
seeing her merely as a black servant,
and not as their co-worker.LilaMae
sharestheirmyopia when she initially
suspects Pompey. The failureof
Empiricismis that individuals don't
see the subtle shadings,eitherof eleva-
tors or people. "Theirsacred
Empiricismhas no meaning,"LilaMae
concludes, "when they can'teven see
that this man [Fulton]is colored
becausehe says he is not. Or doesn't
even say it. They see his skin and see a
white man."9Fulton'sdesign suggests
that Intuitionism,conversely,offers a
new opportunity,a new vision,for both
this city and for all of US society.
Thereare no clearconclusionsat
the end of Whitehead'snovel. LilaMae
finds Fulton'snotebooksthat contain
THEINTUITIONIST
(1999) 367
 the plans for the blackbox, and she
delivers them, incomplete,to both of
the elevatorcompanies.Whatis miss-
ing is the key that will breakthe code
that Fultonused to design his elevator;
only LilaMae possesses the code. After
she has completedFulton'smanu-
scripts,when she feels that the time is
right,when society is ready to receive
what the blackbox represents,Lila
Mae will reveal the code to the rest of
the world. It is then that Fulton'svision
of the world will be transformedfrom
a joke into a reality.

Notes 1. See Native Son, Beloved and Song of Solomon, Mama Day and Linden Hills, and Invisible Man,
respectively.
2. For a discussion of the relationship between the detective and gothic novels, see, for example,
Cawelti (27) and Day (passim).
3. Laura Miller cites Whitehead s influences as being Don DeLillo and "Ralph Ellison and Thomas
Pynchon by way of Walter Mosley." Reviewer Shelley Ridenour sees traces of Ralph Ellison as well,
but also includes George Orwell as an obvious inspiration. In an interview with Miller, Whitehead him-
self cites Stephen King, Ishmael Reed, and Jean Toomer as authors who have directly or indirectly
inspired him.
4. As a courier, Lila Mae's father represents yet another familiar icon for whites. When he appears
at an office building seeking a job interview for the position of elevator inspector, "[t]he secretary
handed him a package when he walked in the door. He returned it to her thin white hands and
informed her he was here for an interview. Wasn't a messenger boy" (161).
5. This scene replicates a scene in Wright's Black Boy, where Shorty lets a white man kick him in
the behind for a quarter (227-29). Just as it is probably no coincidence that Wright's Shorty is also an
elevator operator, Pompey is the name given, ironically or contemptuously, to an officious slave type
in various antebellum slave narratives.
6. Racial politics had infused Lila Mae's career from the beginning. Lila Mae's assignment to the
Fanny Briggs Memorial Building, named for a slave woman who had escaped to the North and taught
herself how to read, was politically motivated. It was an election year, Lila Mae observes, and
Chancre, the current Inspector Guild chair, "was so naked in his attempt to score points with the elec-
torate," particularly the minority population, that he assigned her to that building (13).
7. So much is the elevator a symbol of (racial) progress, and therefore a threat to the white majori-
ty, that at the press conference following the accident, a reporter asks the city's mayor, "Do you think
that a party or parties resistant to colored progress may be responsible?" (22)
8. When she discovers that Fulton was passing for white, she asks herself, perhaps reflecting upon
her own experiences with her co-workers, "What did Fulton do when [other colored people] acted
white? Talk about 'the colored problem' and how it is our duty to help the primitive race get in step
with white civilization. Out of darkest Africa. Or did he remain silent, smile politely at their darkie
jokes. Tell a few of his own" (139).
9. In discussing the potential impact of the discovery of Fulton's racial identity, one character
"
remarks, 'I don't know if [the upper ranks of the Inspectors Guild] know he was colored, but if they
do you know they ain't going to tell the truth. They would never admit that. . . . They'd die before they
say that" (138).

Works Cawelti, John G. Adventure, Mystery and Romance: Formula Stories as Art and Popular Culture.
Cited Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1976.
Day, William Patrick. In the Circles of Fear and Desire: A Study of Gothic Fantasy. Chicago: U of
Chicago P, 1985.
Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by
Himself. 1845. Ed. David W. Blight. Boston: Bedford, 1993.
Fleenor, Juliann, ed. "The Female Gothic." The Female Gothic. Montreal: Eden P, 1983. 3-28.
Kennedy, J. Gerald. "Phantoms of Death in Poe's Fiction." The Haunted Dusk: American
Supernatural Fiction, 1820-1920. Eds. Howard Kerr, John W. Crowley, and Charles L. Crow.
Athens: U of Georgia P, 1983. 37-65.
Miller, Laura. "Colson Whitehead's Alternate New York." 12 Jan. 1999. Salon.com. 1 July 2006.
<http://www.salon.com/books/feature/1999/01/cov 12featureb.html>.

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- . "The Salon Interview: Colson Whitehead." 12 Jan. 1999. Salon.com. 1 July 2006.
<http://www.salon.com/books/int/1999/01/cov si 12lnt.html>.
Ridenour, Shelley. Rev. of The Intuitionist, by Colson Whitehead. 4 Oct. 1999. Chicago Words Hub.
1 July 2006. <http://newcitychicago.com/home/daily/book reviews/intuitionist10499.html>.
Ringe, Donald. American Gothic: Imagination and Reason in Nineteenth Century Fiction. Lexington:
Kentucky UP, 1982.
Whitehead, Colson. The Intuitionist. New York: Anchor, 1999.
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THE URBAN GOTHICVISION OF COLSON WHITEHEAD'STHE INTUITIONIST(1999) 369