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Symbols
Given the racial tensions at work in the play, the color white—describing both people and objects—is a symbol of power. The white people that Jones encounters, including both the living (Smithers) and the unreal (the auctioneer and the prison guard), have very real power in the play because of the color of their skin, while Jones is considered less powerful because he's black. In this way, Jones's decoration of the throne room in his palace is a very conscious choice. By painting the walls stark white, Jones attempts to take on some of the power that the play suggests is inherent to whiteness, and he loses his power once he vacates his palace. Unlike white people, whose power is embedded in their skin, Jones's power came from outside sources that he couldn't take with him in his flight.
The Color White Quotes in The Emperor Jones
The The Emperor Jones quotes below all refer to the symbol of The Color White. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Scene 1 Quotes
Talk polite, white man! Talk polite, you heah me! I'm boss heah now, is you fergettin'?
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When Smithers tries to point out to Jones that when Jones arrived on the island, he wasn't so high and mighty, Jones takes offense and reprimands Smithers. Jones's particular word choice when he calls Smithers "white man" shows that even if his island empire is very separate from governments and systems in the rest of the world, the conventional racial hierarchy still persists here. Jones must remind Smithers that they are different, and it's very much an insult to Smithers to remind him of his whiteness while a powerful black man dresses him down. This shows too how Smithers' power Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occa
No use'n you rakin' up ole times. What I was den is one thing. What I is now 's another.
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After Smithers apologizes for reminding Jones of his humble origins, Jones insists that the past is the past, and the present is very different. This suggests that Jones believes that he's truly escaped his past and has been able to write a new future for himself, entirely separate from the person he was in the US. This is one way that Jones actively separates himself from his humanity. In doing this, he refuses to take into account the things he's done in the past, either to learn from them or even just accept that they happened. In turn, then, this Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. V
For de little stealin' dey gits you in jail soon or late. For de big stealin' dey makes you Emperor and puts in de Hall o' Fame when you croaks. If dey's one thing I learns in ten years on de Pullman ca's listenin' to de white quality talk, it's dat same fact. And when I gits a chance to use it I winds up Emperor in two years.
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Jones explains to Smithers his understanding of how crime and justice functions in the world: when carried out on a small scale, a perpetrator is punished, while large-scale crime yields fame and fortune. It's worth noting that Jones learned this from his white passengers on the Pullman sleeper trains, which automatically casts this interpretation in a racial light. Taking race into account, this becomes a damning explanation of the way that race is either rewarded or punished in the United States. Especially because of the time period in which the play takes place, it's important to keep in mind that Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Elige
Think dese ign'rent bush niggers dat ain't got brains enuff to know deir own names even can catch Brutus Jones? Huh, I s'pects not! Not on yo' life! Why, man, de white men went after me wid bloodhounds where I come from an' I jes' laughs at 'em. It's a shame to fool dese black trash around heah, dey're so easy.
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When Smithers reminds Jones that the forest is dark, dangerous, and the home of the natives, Jones scoffs and insists that the natives are too dumb to be able to properly give chase. With this, Jones showcases his internalized racism in several different ways. First, it's important to pay attention to how Jones speaks about the natives. The natives are black, just like Jones is, but he refuses to see them as humans just like him, and instead conceptualizes them as dumb, uncivilized, and wholly sub-human—in this way echoing the language of racist whites. On the other hand, Jones also Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi
Does you think I'd slink out de back door like a common nigger? I'se Emperor yit, ain't I? And de Emperor Jones leaves de way he comes, and dat black trash don't dare stop him—not yit, leastways.
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As Jones heads for the woods, he insists on walking out the front of his palace instead of escaping unnoticed out the back. For Jones, this is a symbolic way of asserting his dominance and showing Smithers and the natives that Jones still believes he's powerful and superhuman. This is, of course, linked to Jones's lack of fear, which is what the play pinpoints as the reason why he's able to elevate himself to the level of a god. Again, Jones's language betrays the hierarchy he set up on the island, in which he as the emperor (but still a Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit
Scene 2 Quotes
How come all dese white stones come heah when I only remembers one? Nigger, is you crazy mad? Is you lightin' matches to show dem whar you is? Fo' Lawd's sake, use yo' haid.
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Jones is perplexed when he finds that there isn't just one white stone in the clearing where he hid his food; there are many, and his dinner isn't under any of them. Though the play isn't clear about whether this is a trick that the natives play on Jones or whether it's simply a product of Jones's misguided sense of superiority, the presence of so many white stones begins to complicate both Jones's control of his past and his narrative, as well as the power he assigns to whiteness. Up until this point, Jones has aligned himself with things that Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic t
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The Color White Symbol Timeline in The Emperor Jones
The timeline below shows where the symbol The Color White appears in The Emperor Jones. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Scene 1
The play opens onto the emperor's throne room. The walls and floor are white, and a wooden throne with red and orange pillows sits in the middle of the...
(full context)
...big stealing gets a person crowned emperor. He shares that he learned this listening to white passengers on the trains, and now that he's had the chance to steal big, he's...
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...thinks that Jones is a liar. Quickly, Smithers brings up Jones's lies that he killed white men in the states. Jones angrily asks why those are lies, and Smithers insists that...
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...enough to know their own names, let alone catch Brutus Jones. He says that the white men chased him with bloodhounds in the states, and he just laughed—and it will be...
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Scene 2
...When he finishes putting on his boots, he scans the ground, looking for a particular white stone. He spots it and crawls to it, thrilled by the prospect of food—but there's...
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...look around. The tempo of the tom-tom increases as Jones, bewildered, wonders where all the white stones came from, since he only remembers one. With a gasp, Jones flings the match...
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Scene 4
...coast and be safe by morning, a silent, chained procession of black convicts enters. A white prison guard with a whip and a rifle supervises them. When the guard signals, the...
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...gun in a sudden rage. He yells that he'll kill the guard, calling him a "white devil," and shoots the guard in the back. As he fires, the forest closes in...
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Scene 5
...stares at his shoes, a silent crowd enters the clearing. The crowd is comprised of white people dressed in clothing from the 1850s, and all look well-off. Young Southern belles chat...
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...his face changes slowly from terror to realization, and with a stutter, he asks the "white folks" why they're looking at him and what they're doing. Becoming suddenly angry, Jones bellows,...
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