The Intuitionist: A Novel Summary
Colson Whitehead

The Intuitionist: A Novel Overview

Colson Whitehead’s novel, The Intuitionist, reimagines a 1930s-era New York in which the city is controlled by the Department of Elevator Inspectors and organized crime syndicates. When Lila Mae Watson, the city's first black female elevator inspector, is accused of causing a serious elevator accident, she becomes intertwined in an internal war between two factions of inspectors-the Intuitionists and the Empiricists-that reveals the racial and social tensions gripping the city. Whitehead explores themes of institutional racism, social progress and personal identity.