Throughout the Intuitionist, Lila Mae must endure the probing of arbo, the fall of the Fanny Briggs, doubts about Fulton and ultimately her, racial identity. Because Lila Mae is so driven, we often overlook her withdrawal from the elevator guild, but, this is what drives her to develop ownership of racial change.

Being the first African American women in the elevator institute, Lila Mae remains focused on school and ignores discrimination, forcing her to become withdrawn. "Occasionally professors called Lila Mae by his name, even though it would have been difficult to say there was any resemblance. Lila Mae never pointed the mistake out to her professors..." (44). In front of blatant racism, Lila Mae chooses to remain composed. She uses non-inflammatory language because she does not want to anger her professors, remaining withdrawn from the rest of the class. In her little janitors closet, Lila Mae studies to achieve her dreams and tries to isolate herself from the discrimination of the north's schooling system. Ultimately, she never has the strength to protest, and she internalizes all the hate pointed towards her. …show more content…
She puts her face on. In her case, not a matter of cosmetics, but will. How to make a sad face hard?...Not in front of strangers, gauging her success...she achieved calibration...real pain" (57). Previously, Lila Mae ignores the racial discrimination of the Elevator Academy and puts intense focus on her studies. However, Lila has a ton of hurt inside, and yet she disguises it with a composed and neutral expression. Her expression is not something dainty or for other people, she does it because she has a lack of confidence. She does it to reaffirm herself. She coincidently picks the most painful muscles - a testament to the degree of discrimination she must overcome in a hostile elevator guild. In this