The Importance of Setting in The Invisible Man The Liberty Paint Factory in Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man provides the setting for a very significant chain of events in novel. Furthermore, it provides many symbols that will influence the reader's interpretation. Some of these symbols are associated with the structure itself, with Mr. Kimbro and with Mr. Lucius Brockway. The first of many examples in these scenes involving the invisible man and the symbolic role of black and white in the novel is when the narrator is sent to the paint factory by young Mr. Emerson to try to get a job. Mr. Emerson, however, only sends him out of pity. The narrator arrives and immediately notices the huge electric sign reading "KEEP AMERICA PURE WITH LIBERTY PAINTS." Later, the reader will learn that Liberty Paint is famous for its white paint called none other than "Optic White". In fact, the sign advertises keeping America pure with white people and not just white paint. Next, the invisible man must walk down a long, pure white corridor. In this moment he is a black man symbolically immersed in a white world, a recurring idea in the novel. After receiving his job, the narrator goes to meet Mr. Kimbro. In this scene, Kimbro teaches the narrator how to turn ordinary white paint into "Optic White": ten drops of a black formula must be mixed into white paint, the surface of which is already brown. The narrator doesn't understand this and inquires, only to be insulted by Mr. Kimbro. Mr. Kimbro, in no way, wants any of his employees to think. He just wants them to obey. So the invisible man, although still unable to understand these idiocies... middle of paper ......d Mr. Lucius Brockway helps everyone to portray this image in its fullness, while contributing to the rest of the novel. Works Cited and ConsultedBellow, Saul. "Man Underground" review of the film The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. Comment. June 1952. December 1, 2001 Available: http://www.english.upeen.edu/~afilreis /50s/bellow-on-ellison.htmlEllison, Ralph. Going to the Territory. New York: Random House, 1986. Fabre, Michel. "In Precious by Ralph Ellison." Unpublished manuscript. 1996. November 30., 1988.