Mr. Norton

 Mr. Norton is a rich man who boasts to be the white. Such a desperate behavior to be superior makes the reader think that Mr. Norton is highly liberal; moreover, he is counted as a philanthropic individual. As a result, he hides his true intentions. 

While the narrator asks Mr. Norton for employment, the last ignores him without any notice of being liberal, by his words. The writer of the story uses this character with such ambiguous characteristics in order to stress imperfection or even, dishonesty of that time America’s ideology. Furthermore, Mr. Norton is supposed to follow the rules which he claims to be of the utmost importance for him. That is to say, the black men’s chances to graduate, undertake a variety of professions which are typically perceived to be the sphere for the whites. Relying on this information, the protagonist approaches Mr. Norton with a plea to get a helping hand in terms of work.  Definitely, ‘generous’ Mr. Norton is not willing to offer any help. 

Therefore, a reader may find out that Mr. Norton represents a new breed of racist who is concerned with limiting the rights of the blacks by exploiting them through slavery. To some extent, a critical reader may claim that Mr. Norton’s actions are of the Southern racist’s kind who enjoyed the black’s death battles tossing them brass tokens.