The Intuitionist

In the novel The Intuitionist there is a great sense of dislocation which contributes to the great allegory that Whitehead is trying to portray. This novel may seem to be about elevators but it is in fact merely a metaphor for something larger. This metaphor could very well relate to race, being dislocated, or to the ideas of heaven and hell.
The dislocation present in this novel is that of time period, region, and African Americans among the mostly Irish whites. The dislocation is a conscious one used by Whitehead to create the ambiguity that is necessary for his allegory. Some of the things that cause confusion in the time period are the language and the scientific ideas presented. For example, Whitehead uses the word "colored" in place of black, which is a non-contemporary language choice. The scientific ideas shown through the elevators having spirits and such show a time period that could be in the future. There are many examples of the varying time period questionableness in this novel. The dislocation is conscious because of the fact that Whitehead wants this story to relate to all times and all places. This novel shows dislocation through the cloudy/unclear explanations of the characters and events. This cloudy uncertainty relates to the African American community in this novel being "lost" among the white community.
The concepts behind the far fetched elevator Intuitionist beliefs are that of heaven and ascension compared to hell. These are ideas are still unclear at this point in the novel but the ascension of the escalator compared to the elevator is definitely a metaphor towards spirituality and religious thought. So with all of this, does is now make sense why the reader can't comprehend the novel well if they don't suspend their disbelief? I think so.