![]() The narrator relates an incident in which he accidentally bumped into a tall, blond man in the dark. He describes his anguished, aching need to make others recognize him, and says he has found that such attempts rarely succeed. Being invisible sometimes makes him doubt whether he really exists. The narrator says that his invisibility can serve both as an advantage and as a constant aggravation. It is as though other people are sleepwalkers moving through a dream in which he doesn't appear. The narrator introduces himself as an "invisible man." He explains that his invisibility owes not to some biochemical accident or supernatural cause but rather to the unwillingness of other people to notice him, as he is black. By limiting the narrator's identity, these ideologies effectively render him invisible, as they force him to bury his real self beneath the roles that those around him require him to play. The ideology of the Brotherhood limits the narrator's identity in that it requires blind adherence to the collective attitude of the organization and allows no room for individual thought, expression, or action-the very things that the narrator craves. The ideology of the college limits the narrator's identity in that it forces him to reject the black culture that shaped his early identity and forces him to accept a position of inherent inferiority to whites. The Brotherhood thus prizes clinical, scientific exposition over the sort of emotional appeal on behalf of the individual that the narrator makes after Tod Clifton's death. The Brotherhood adheres to an ideology based on that of American communist groups in the 1930s, a sort of authoritarian socialism that relies on a Marxist theory of history-which holds that those of lower social status must submit themselves to the unavoidable class struggles on the path to equality. The college encourages students to reject black culture to the extent that it seems ignorant and rural, and to pattern their behavior on the white middle class. Washington, who is represented by the figure of the Founder through a near-religious devotion to the legend of the Founder's life, students at the college are taught to work hard and seek economic advancement while not clamoring for equal rights or equal treatment from whites. ![]() Additionally, the novel's betrayals function through deceit and secrecy-for the most part, they are invisible, and the narrator is blind to them until it is too late.Ī: The college's ideology is based on the ideas of Booker T. Treachery also reinforces the ideas of blindness and invisibility, because any betrayal is essentially a sign that the betrayer willfully refuses to see his victim. This sort of treachery generally contributes to the novel's creation of a bewildering, malevolent world in which an unexpected blow can come at any time, reinforcing the novel's characterization of the social effects of racial prejudice. Jack, specifically, betrays the narrator by posing as a compassionate and helpful friend while secretly harboring racist prejudice against him and using him as a tool for the advancement of the Brotherhood's ends. The members of the Brotherhood betray the narrator in a number of insidious ways, ranging from curtailing his individuality to turning their backs on the plight of the poor blacks in Harlem. That he sends the narrator away with letters of supposed recommendation that, in reality, explicitly criticize the narrator demonstrates his objectionable desire to suppress black identity. In reality, however, he deliberately subordinates himself to whites and says that he would see every black man in America lynched before giving up his power. Bledsoe poses as a figure representing the advancement of black Americans through education. Bledsoe) and the Brotherhood (in the figure of Brother Jack). In the end, the liquidity of Rinehart's identity is one of the forces that compel the narrator to discover his own more solid identity.Ī: The two major betrayals in the novel are the narrator's betrayals at the hands of the college (in the figure of Dr. At first, the narrator feels that Rinehart's adaptability enables a kind of freedom, but he quickly realizes that Rinehart's formlessness also represents a complete loss of individual selfhood. Rinehart represents a protean conception of identity-the idea that a person's identity can change completely depending on where one is and with whom one interacts, an extreme version of the narrator's conundrum throughout the novel. Ultimately, Rinehart is an extremely surreal figure of Ellison's creation, designed not to be realistic or believable but rather unsettling and confusing. Rinehart seems to be all things to all people-pimp, bookie, and preacher, among other things. He never appears in the novel, and the narrator only learns of his existence when other people mistake him for Rinehart while he is in disguise. Rinehart is a mystery and a source of deep ambiguity in Invisible Man.
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