Chapter 10

The same as almost every other instance of oratory in the novel, the person speaking is representing some aspect of power. The first person we are introduced to in Chapter 10 with a significant position of power is Mr. Kimbro, the IM’s short-tempered boss in the Liberty Paint factory. Though Mr. Kimbro has power where the paint is stirred, after the IM mixes up which “dope” he should be using for the paint buckets, he is sent away to the basement where he meets an old man named Lucius Brockway, the real man in charge. Brockway tells the IM of how there are many younger engineers who attempt to take away Mr. Brockway’s job, but he’s stood his ground for many years and doesn’t plan on ever giving up his position. Mr. Brockway is very confident in his work, stating that “Liberty Paints wouldn’t be worth a plugged nickel if they didn’t have me here to see that it got a good strong base” (215). Not everyone in the factory is as confident in Mr. Brockway as he is himself; we learn that an entire labor union despises him when the IM stumbles into one of their meetings intentionally. There, the IM goes from being referred to as “brother” to being called a “fink” many times as well as the n-word once revealing that he is working for Mr. Brockway. The chairman of the union does all he can to keep everyone calm, though one man angrily gives a brief speech on how the IM is really a fink. He argues that anyone willing to work with Mr. Brockway “for more than fifteen minutes is just as apt as not to be naturally fink-minded” (221). The hostile man is shot down by the chairman who suggests giving him the benefit of the doubt and instead investigating his true character at a later time which is agreed on by the union. Both the men making speeches were trying to prove their power, just as many others have been previously in the novel.