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Trueblood used his incest story to his advantage by sharing it with white people such as Mr.Norton because he is rewarded rather than condemned. Mr.Norton hands Trueblood one hundred dollars after hearing the story, and this is an interesting moment because the reward symbolizes a sense of support, but Mr.Norton is introduced as a sincere and kind man. One reason for which he chose not to criticize Trueblood is possibly because he understands the importance of family, and how deep a father’s love for his daughter can be. In the book, Mr.Norton says, “‘She was a being rarer, more beautiful, purer, more perfect and more delicate than the wildest dream of a poet. I could never believe her to be my flesh and blood’” (page 42). In this quote, he is describing and emphasizing the beauty of his daughter to the narrator. While one can conclude that the language used by Mr.Norton to describe his daughter’s beauty is sexualized, it is also clear that Mr. Norton’s attachment to his daughter is very strong. In another section of the book, Trueblood says, “‘The gal looks just like the ole Lady did when she was young and I first met her, only better lookin’ (page 54). Here Trueblood is describing his daughter, and he compares her looks to that of her mother when he first met her, and he even says that she looks better.
When analyzing these two quotes, it is clear that the two individuals feel strongly about their daughters. Strongly in the sense that they are physically attracted to them as they mainly focus on the description of their outside beauty. As for Trueblood’s strong feelings towards his daughter, they make him because more protective over her as he mentions that there is a boy that he does not approve of who’s been spending time around his daughter. Therefore, it is possible that Mr.Norton gave Trueblood the money because he was able to sympathize with him in the sense that he understands the extent to which a father would be willing to go to protect their daughter and family. Through another lens, it also seems as if Mr. Norton's one-hundred-dollar reward indicates that he is no different from the other white men who were fascinated by Trueblood’s story to the point where they exploited his pain for their entertainment.
Therefore, though he appears to be a generous and kind man, Norton is simply someone who takes a less blunt approach to expressing his racist beliefs as he practices the tradition of humiliating and exploiting people of color as demonstrated by his donation to Jim Trueblood after he listened to his horrific story of incest. In addition, Norton's tactics are more subtle than those of other Southerners, but, his actions are equivalent to those of the white racist men at the battle royal who rewarded the black boys for abusing each other by tossing them brass tokens that they still had to struggle for. In conclusion, Mr. Norton reacts in such a manner to Trueblood’s story because he either understands how deep a father’s love for his daughter and family can run or because he simply reacted as any other white individual would have because of the societal stigmas.
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