Our first discussion of Invisible Man was very wide-ranging and exciting, and as we could have isolated and tracked the many motifs that Ellison works with in the novel, we instead discussed impressions of Ellison’s style and technique, thought deeply about the meaning of identity in the novel, and discussed the complicated roles of historical figures and social institutions in the novel. I will mention a few of the major discussion points, as the interrelationships that we uncovered are too numerous and complicated to detail here.
We noted the episodic nature of the book and found that the narrative breaks at the point in which the Invisible Man is reborn, after his electro-shock “therapy.” One student noted that there is a major shift in the Invisible Man’s engagement with the world after the rebirth: he moves from being a passive figure who honors the tacit expectations of his social environment – particularly at the college – to a person who is managing a more pervasive anger and can be direct about it. The student noted that the Invisible Man’s rage would erupt periodically and intensely before his break and became more of a state of being afterward. Another register of the Invisible Man’s change was obvious in his speech making: the content and contexts for his speeches (say the Battle Royal speech compared to his eviction speech) changes significantly, and this is worth the reader’s attention.
This led to some discussion on the stylistic choices that Ellison makes and how those choices tie in with the bigger themes of the book. Some students commented on the tone of the first part of the book, in which there is a sustained irony that colors the story as the Invisible Man tells of his college years, a tone that lightly mocks the character’s limited understanding of the forces bearing down on him at the time and is also critical of the pretensions of the college, its founders and administrators. I noted that this tone seems to collapse after the Invisible Man’s rebirth. The ironic tone compliments a theme that Mr. Cook pointed out, that of being a “part” of something and “apart” from something, a deep conflict that haunts the book. It allows the narrator to fully inhabit the deep sincerity of his youthful system of beliefs, but it makes clear that there is an impending break upon the horizon and the narrator is “apart from” and not “a part of” that world. Other students noted the interpolation of dialect speech, and others noticed passages (such as Rev. Barbee’s speech) that seem deliberately hackneyed, long-winded, or elevated in a way that seemed inappropriate or absurd, and this has the effect of pushing the reader out of the novel a little, giving the reader a sense of being at turns inside and outside the world of the book. We tried to understand Ellison’s decision to include scenes that seem to ignore the boundaries of what we think of as “real” life, i.e. the Battle Royal scene, the chaos of the Golden Day, the electro-shock therapy scene. Why do we often ask ourselves “is this really happening?” And why is Ellison forcing us to ask this question?
Here we pick up the thread of “identity,” which is clearly one of the most problematic themes in the book. We asked ourselves why the Invisible Man is nameless. Some felt that the lack of a name strips down any associations one might have with that name and encourages us to concentrate on the character’s individual consciousness and interrelationships. Mr. Cook noted the character’s struggle to insist that the core of his self is unknowable and can not be co-opted, as so many in the book attempt to do. The essence of the self is a mystery. We also wondered about the deep sense of shame and nausea the character feels when his name is called or his deepest memories are exposed, and we asked how this may be tied up in the problem of the name. It is also important to note that Ellison gets some comedic mileage out of the namelessness of his character, and that may points in the book are simply very funny, which relieves the book of a solemn, self-important or portentous tone.
I could go on forever and have probably glossed over points that meant a lot to some participants. This can not be helped when a discussion goes as well as this one did. Themes like power, lack of control, social institutions that are duplicitous or overlap with others, “play” and humor as a response to oppressive and hypocritical cultural expectations, all played a part in the discussion. For those who were not able to come, please write in the comment section of this post with a 250 + word response to either the ideas brought up in discussion or your own thoughts that have been percolating as you have been reading. Thank you, Mr. Telles.
I have also been wondering the symbolism behind the author not revealing the main character’s name. I feel disconnected from the main character because I do not know his real name, but at the same time I can understand why the author chose not to name the main character. I agree that the reason why the author chose not to name the main character was so that the readers can focus on his personality, that way the reader can base his identity off of his actions and not on a name. However, this still does not change the way I feel about not knowing the main character’s name.
ReplyDeleteI was very frustrated by numerous parts in the first section of the novel. I was frustrated by his “journey” with Mr. Norton. I could tell that the “journey” would only end in disaster for the main character, and I was aggravated that the main character could see it, but did not try his absolute best to stop it.
The main character’s deep admiration of Dr. Bledsoe also aggravated me. Even though the man is successful despite his ethnicity and the racism that comes along with it, I still feel like Dr. Bledsoe is a social shark, eating everything in its path in order to make himself full. It frustrated me that the main character could not see that Dr. Bledsoe does not care about him or any of his students – the man is only looking out for himself and his wealth and power.
It has become clear to me that most wealthy, powerful men in the novel are only looking out for themselves. They are not concerned with making society a better place.
I am really enjoying Invisible man. I love how the themes of race and inequality are wound into the book. Sometimes seeming to take the back seat and at other time feeling as though your are being beat over the head with it. This book moves from subtle to blunt in ways that keep the reader on their toes.
ReplyDeleteI had very similar feelings to Oliva while reading the Mr. Norton section of the book. You could see nothing but disaster to for the narrator as he brought Mr. Norton deeper and deeper into a world that Mr. Norton only thought he wanted to understand. Mr. Norton's character was very interesting because he is truly idealistic but he really has no since of what it means to be anything but rich and white. The world of black poverty is an ugly on that he can't really bring himself to grips with it.
Dr. Bledsoe's speech about playing the part was especially interesting to me because it speaks to the idea that all success may not truly progressive. Dr. Bledsoe say that the only reason there are colleges like the one he run around is because people like Dr. Bledsoe give the white people what they want. In a way this makes Dr. Bledsoe powerful but in another way it makes him powerless it means that he can only maintain his power and success at the will of the rich white people he manipulates he is powerless with out them. Dr. Bledsoe makes a great contrast to Mr.Norton, Dr. Bledsoe is fully aware of the situation and in it to protect himself where as Mr. Norton's heart is in the right place but he is ignorant of the real issues.
I would really like to better understand the symbolism of his room filled with light bulbs, I hope that reading more will spread more light (get it) on that analogy.
So far Invisible Man has been a fantastic book. Ellison's writing is unique and manages to bring in many different ideas without being to obvious with it. As brought up above, race and inequality are constantly underlining each experience that the narrator is put through. The narrator is a very smart man but is blind and naive towards everything, especially when he listens to Mr. Norton and brings him deeper and deeper into the black Southern lands. By being so naive, he gets himself into more trouble and eventually is expelled by Dr. Bledsoe. He is also clueless at the scene when he first arrives to Harlem and sees an older couple being thrown out on the sidewalk. Which leads to the identity of the narrator. Ellison never gives the name of the narrator, nor the fake name (given in later chapters by the Brotherhood). Maybe it is so we do not get a picture in our head by associating the name with someone else. Or it could possibly be so we can concentrate on the personality of the narrator instead of his name. Lastly, as Olivia hinted about above, the narrator seems to idolize only high powered white men or black men that wish to be white. In the beginning he idolizes Dr. Bledsoe, which aggravates me to death. He is such a fake, crude man that only cares about his image to the outer society and does not listen to anyone else. He does not care that he is killing a student's dream by kicking him to the streets of New York. Dr. Bledsoe even states that he would rather see every black in the area to be lynched before he lost his power!
ReplyDeleteSo, I have very mixed feelings about the characters brought up in the book. BUT I cannot wait to finish it!
As Mr. Cook pointed out above, being a “part” of something and “apart” from something is a deep rooted problem that the narrator constantly faces throughout the novel. The Invisible Man struggles to find himself in a white man dominated society, which is clearly evident at the college, Liberty Paints, and even the Brotherhood. By being a “part” of all these social institutions, he loses his individuality and ultimately his identity. However, the narrator eventually realizes that while being “apart” from the social institutions may give him some sense of sanctuary, it can’t contribute to his social responsibility.
ReplyDeleteI also found myself wondering why Ellison left the narrator nameless in this novel, and have to agree that he wants to keep the character separate from anything you’ve ever thought of in the past. Ellison forces the reader to isolate the character and focus on what being nameless does to him, and then in turn what it does to his relations with other characters in the novel. Admittedly it was frustrating, yet I think Ellison was successful in my case, as I often thought about how the narrator’s namelessness effected those around him as well as himself.
Like the other’s who have also posted on this blog, I too found the way Ellison portrays Dr. Bledsoe to be infuriating. Even though I am looking at this part of the novel in retrospect, I can’t help but feel that the narrator should have had a better idea, or have been a bit more weary, of who Dr. Bledsoe truly was as a person. He should not have trusted or respected him as fully he did, and this naive decision proved to be his downfall.
The first half of invisible man felt like it was a set up for the rest of the book. I know most book s are like that, but what i mean is that all the events that happen to him from the second half of the book on are completely influenced by the one mistake he made in college. If it were not from that mistake he would have stayed in college and been another pawn in the system. But since he was thrown out, and the dean went through such lengths to keep him jobless, the dean freed the narrator from the slavery of ignorance. his mistake gave him the opportunity to see how the world was working to keep the black population down in place without them realizing that they are still being held down. back to the point though the entire book is based off of the one mistake the narrator made in college. Showing another injustice of the time, that if an African American made one mistake their life was done, but a white person could make all the wrong choices and still turn out better then the African American.
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