Mr. Norton

Mr. Norton represents the many ways in which whites have control over lives of blacks and glorify what they do for them. However his motives for running the college don’t stem from his desire to help blacks that need it, but because it gives him control over the lives of the thousands of students that attend the college. He doesn’t seem to view the students as human beings, but as parts of the project he has invested his life in.  He says “And it has been my pleasant fate to return each spring and observe the changes that the years have wrought” which suggests that he views the college more as an empire or a company than the home of thousands of students.  It further proves this point when he says, “That way I can observe in terms of living personalities to what extent my money, my time and hopes have been fruitfully invested”. Investing has the connotation of putting in time or money now in order to receive a profit in the long run. So rather than investing in the college in order to help other, he is hoping to get a profit which suggests he is seeking personal gain. Mr. Norton’s motives for running the college are self –centered and he is more concerned about how the college will affect his life than how it will affect the lives of his students.  He takes ownership over the fate of his students when he says, “I felt even as a young man that your people were closely connected with my destiny. Do you understand?”; in taking ownership over the lives of his students, he gives himself control over their lives. He is also only concerned with how his students’ lives affect his own rather than how he can affect the lives of his students. The irony is that Mr. Norton believes he is helping his students and the students believe that the college liberates them by giving them freedom in their fate; however the college actually has the opposite effect because it gives Mr. Norton control over the lives of the students. The fact that he asks the narrator if he understands is indicative of the condescension he has towards him.  Also, while reading Hamlet in class we discussed the idea of the fool revealing truth and that there is often times truth in madness. This theme can be seen at the end of chapter three when one of the veterans who is supposed to be crazy reveals the truth about the nature of the relationship between Mr. Norton and the narrator. The veteran tells them that Mr. Norton sees his students as a “scorecard” or an “achievement” and that he doesn’t actually care about his individual students. On the other hand, the narrator and the other students view Mr. Norton as “not a man to him, but a God” and that they look up to him. The veteran also recognizes that Mr. Norton and the narrator are invisible and blind to each other.