Extra Long Blog Post on The Invisible Man

After finally having completed the insanely long amount of reading for this blog, I have come to a couple conclusions and developed much more of a feel for the book. I guess you could say, unfortunately, the more I read into Eliison’s novel, the less I become interested in it. There are a few things that continue to get on my nerves, which make me much less interested in reading the book. Probably the thing that has been bothering me the most, is that we STILL do not know the narrator’s name. It’s not like it deeply affects the book for me, that I don’t know his name, it’s just more of an annoying thing that builds up because I constantly think that they will finally deliver his name to us, but it just never happens. Anyway, for this super long post I just thought I’d discuss a few key things in each chapter, so here it is:
*In chapter eleven, I thought Ellison might finally tell us “the narrator’s” name because he goes into the hospital for his injuries from work (so they bring him to a factory hospital) He is asked on a form “What Is Your Name?” He thinks on that question for several pages, becomes very frustrated, and realizes that he just does not know. Further than that, he is asked what his mother’s name, and came across several names, but none sounded right to him, so he gave up on that.
*In chapter twelve, I found more symbolism in the color white. The narrator is wearing white overalls, and he receives more attention by just choosing that atricle of clothing. To me, this symbolized the fact that maybe if he was a white man, he would no longer be “invisible.”
*In chapter thirteen something rather exciting happens. The narrator is taken to a coffee house by a white man. The white man offers him a job, being a paid spokesman for his politicial organization. The narrator would represent the Harlem Branch. Initially, he turns the job down, but once he returns to his apartment, he realizes its a very good opportunity for him, and calls the man back to accept his offer.
*In chapter fouteen a member of the Narrator’s new job has an interesting complaint – that being, that he wasn’t black enough. Regardless of this observation, the narrator is told he will be the new Booker T. Washington, and he accepts this position. Along with joining this organization, the narrator must do a few things. He is told that he must change his name (which is not a problem, since he does not even know his original name), he must move into one of the organization’s apartment complexes, and he has to entirely make a break from his past life.
*In chapter fifteen, there is a very distinct description of a certain figure. There is a iron coin bank that is discussed, but what is odd about it is what the “statue” is of. It is a black man who has red lips and a very big smile, in which the coin goes one you deposit one. Now, I was a little confused at what this figure could have symbolized, but I was thinking maybe the huge grin on the face of this person could symbolize that during this time, black men were not nearly as wealthy as whites, and the grin that the coin goes in could show the joy they could get from receiving money, even as small as a coin.
*In chapter sixteen, the narrator is given the opportunity to give his very first speech. With members of the brotherhood standing close by, the narrator delivers a less than perfect performance. Before he delivered his speech he was given certain catchphrases and specific things to say, but all of that left his head. He used a lot of very boring/blah words, such as “we”,”they”,”us”, and other nonspecific words like that. His speech does not go over very well with the other members of their organization, and he is told that is he done delivering speeches.
*In chapter seventeen, we learn that the narrator has been studying things for the Brotherhood for months on end, in hopes to repair the damage he caused in his very first speech. Another important aspect of this chapter is that the narrator yet again brings up his grandfather’s speech on his deathbed, and that it continues to stay with him and haunt him.
*In chapter eighteen, many important things happen to the narrator. First off, he receives an anonymous letter say that he is “not to go too fast.” This left me a bit confused. Also in this chapter, the narrator has some more trouble with the brotherhood. He gave an interview, and after the interview he was accused of not really caring about the brotherhood, and that he was just using it to help himself. Because of these suspicions, he is denoted to a women’s spokesman. While it is pretty obvious that the narrator is not pleased with this placement, he still wants to prove his dedication to the organization and works very hard as a women’s spokesperson.
*In chapter nineteen, some scandalous things happen. The narrator gives a speech in his new position, and attracts the attention of a white woman. He goes with her back to her house, when we learn that she is married, but rarther neglected by her husband. The narrator and this white woman, surprisingly, sleep together. Afterwards the woman’s husband comes home, but does not even notice the narrator’s presence. He leaves the house once he gets a chance to slip out. This part of the novel really surprised me. Throughout Ellison’s work, it is made so clear that whites and blacks are so distanced from each other and that the whites really look down upon blacks, for the most part anyway. But this woman did not mind the color of his skin, because her white husband was not treating her properly.
*And FINALLY, at the end of this reading, we come to chapter twenty. In this, the narrator is hurt because he has been excluded from a meeting the brotherhood had called. He is told that he is being accused of getting “white fever.” White fever? I think that that means he is becoming too much a part of the white race – little does the brotherhood know, he had just slept with a white woman, and I am guessing that there would be severe repercussions from that behavior.

The Invisible Man

The Invisible Man, written by Ralph Ellison, is a very interesting book. To be honest when we first started reading this canonical piece, I was expecting it to be very boring, difficult to understand, and worst of all that the length was going to make me want to rip my eyes out. But as I have continued to read this book, I have been pleasantly surprised with it. While it is not an “easy read,” it is certainly a much easier read than I originally thought it would be. While at times it is a little difficult to understand, for the most part it is relatively easy to get through.
There was one specific part in the book that represented a lot to me – that being the Optic White part. This small part of the novel seemed to show a lot. First of all it showed Ellison’s clever use of metaphors, and most importantly it captured the very essence of the book, being racism. On page 200, the narrator is given instructions to make a perfect white paint. The process in doing this is rather odd. He started with a “dead black” paint, and was told to drop 10 drops of black paint into the paint can. The narrator was confused because the intent was to make a perfectly and purely white paint, but how could this be possible to mix to black colors and then create the purest and cleanest white colored paint, that it can be used on national monuments. The part that really connects to the racism that the book follows is the metaphor that the Optic White Paint Company uses – “White is Right.” This is the unfortunate racist mindset throughout The Invisible Man, and this slogan is definitely a metaphor for thinking that white people are dominant and “right” over African Americans.

Cannonical Works…

Trying to pick apart and provide a detailed and specific answer to the question: what makes a book part of the canon, or not apart of the canon, can be rather difficult. In looking at the cannonical pieces we have read thus far this year, I feel as though there are several aspects that must be included in all cannonical works; most of which involving something dreadful, such as death, forced/unhappy marriages, or a conflict that seems impossible to solve. Now, to me, these things seem as though they should not be included in something that everyone is “expected” to read. While in Lovecraft’s The Mountains of Madness, these qualities are even more graphic and apparent, and it is not considered to be a part of the canon.
This thought brings me right back to the beginning – what makes a book to be considered a part of the American Canon of Literature? In some ways I feel like its just a group of old english majors deciding what books they like the best, and this then forms the canon that our class surrounds. While I know this is clearly not the case, I feel as though it is impossible to dissect the essence of what makes up the canon of our literature, and it is just a very lucky and fortunate thing if an author’s book makes it into the canon.