"I am an invisible man"
Invisibility. This titular aspect of "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison cannot be interpreted in any specific or correct way but can lead to an interesting discussion about the true meaning of being unseen in society. Is anyone truly visible in "Invisible Man"? What is the author trying to say about invisibility? And how does this apply to the real world? In order to start looking for these answers, I started to think about the meaning of invisibility.
The narrator of "Invisible Man" refers to himself as invisible in several moments in the first few chapters of the novel. The first time he discusses invisibility is actually on the first page of the novel. The reader can understand from this passage that although the narrator may be a bit chaotic, he has a clear understanding of his personal definition of invisibility. He describes, albeit in a condescending manner, to the reader that he is not a ghost or "Hollywood-movie ectoplasm", but that he is of flesh and bone and yet is somehow invisible (1). He continues by saying that he is only invisible because people refuse to see him and that they see everything, like his surroundings and their own imagination, but him. It seems that in the narrator's mind, his invisibility is a result of other people's ignorance and prejudice and not his own deceit.
The narrator of "Invisible Man" refers to himself as invisible in several moments in the first few chapters of the novel. The first time he discusses invisibility is actually on the first page of the novel. The reader can understand from this passage that although the narrator may be a bit chaotic, he has a clear understanding of his personal definition of invisibility. He describes, albeit in a condescending manner, to the reader that he is not a ghost or "Hollywood-movie ectoplasm", but that he is of flesh and bone and yet is somehow invisible (1). He continues by saying that he is only invisible because people refuse to see him and that they see everything, like his surroundings and their own imagination, but him. It seems that in the narrator's mind, his invisibility is a result of other people's ignorance and prejudice and not his own deceit.
"That invisibility to which I refer occurs because of a peculiar disposition of the eyes of those with whom I come in contact."
I initially thought that the type of invisibility that the narrator refers to could be a form of social invisibility. Social invisibility is normally attributed to a group of people that are constantly ignored and marginalized by the majority of society. However, in "Invisible Man", the narrator is not necessarily ignored but is depicted as "just another African American" with no individuality or personality. The whole first chapter revolves around the narrator's complete nonchalance to a disgusting and crude situation and his complete blindness to the fact that he is being used by the whites as entertainment. Although the narrator seems to think that he is "special" due to his education, he is still constantly worried about what the whites will think of him and if they will let him say his speech. He essentially turns himself into another "trophy" that the whites can use as a means of justification for their twisted benevolence. The narrator further emphasizes this fact on page 58, where he mentally curses at Jim Trueblood for ruining the reputation of African Americans, more specifically his own reputation in the eyes of Mr. Norman. This shows how the narrator automatically groups himself with his race and does not yet have an idea of individuality, as hinted at by the mention of Ralph Waldo Emerson who wrote a novel about self reflection that the narrator hadn't studied
The narrator's invisibility can't be discussed without bringing up the scene of his conflict with the white man. This scene also gives important clues about what the narrator believes to define one's invisibility. He describes how he bumped into a man who called him a possibly racially-charged name, and how he immediately started to attack him. The narrator continues and shows himself explode with rage and almost kill the man with a knife, until he suddenly stops and has a thought that the man couldn't "see" him and he runs away while laughing. It looks like the narrator realizes in that moment that to the man, he is not a person but a generalized group of people, and that from that fact, he is essentially protected. And in a sense, that realization is true, and the narrator was invisible to the man he attacked. The Daily News article publishes an article the next day calling it a mugging, which emphasizes the lack of individuality given to the narrator.
From these realizations, I believe that the narrator's idea of invisibility centers around the balance or imbalance between the person that one believes themselves to be and the person that others see. Even in real life, people naturally judge others by their appearance, race, and other similar aspects, and from these judgments, people are "grouped together" and are not thought of as individuals. In the novel so far, no character has been shown to have a personality or individuality other than the narrator in the present. Maybe this was a deliberate decision to show how even the reader is supposed to categorize the characters depending on the descriptions the narrator gives (Mr. Norman as a Santa Claus-like figure or just an amount of wealth, Trueblood being depicted by the narrator as representing the whole black community, etc.).
The narrator is an invisible man. However, so is everyone else. We are all invisible to each other. We are not ghosts or science experiments, but individuals with flesh and bone that people other than ourselves couldn't possibly understand fully. We are always seen with peoples' inner eyes and will inevitably become "invisible" to them. I think that this is the message that the author is trying to give about invisibility to the reader.
I look forward to seeing my thoughts change and get proved wrong as I read further into the book and come to new realizations about how the author finally discovers his invisibility.
CJ
The narrator's invisibility can't be discussed without bringing up the scene of his conflict with the white man. This scene also gives important clues about what the narrator believes to define one's invisibility. He describes how he bumped into a man who called him a possibly racially-charged name, and how he immediately started to attack him. The narrator continues and shows himself explode with rage and almost kill the man with a knife, until he suddenly stops and has a thought that the man couldn't "see" him and he runs away while laughing. It looks like the narrator realizes in that moment that to the man, he is not a person but a generalized group of people, and that from that fact, he is essentially protected. And in a sense, that realization is true, and the narrator was invisible to the man he attacked. The Daily News article publishes an article the next day calling it a mugging, which emphasizes the lack of individuality given to the narrator.
"Poor fool, poor blind fool, I thought with sincere compassion, mugged by an invisible man!"The narrator previously said that he is invisible because people cannot see the true him, but if he himself does not yet have his own individual self, can he really call himself invisible? Or would it be more fitting to say that he is without a form yet? This is another important distinction that should be made. I think that from what has been read so far, the narrator in the present time uses the light bulbs as a metaphor for finally having a completely solid form and that since he knows exactly what his figure is, he can call himself invisible because no one else knows what he truly is. The idea of being formless can be taken back to the prologue in which he says that while light doesn't give people visibility, it gives them form. Perhaps as his vision starts to be cleared from white propaganda and he is "(en)lightened" he is able to have a more certain sense of self or a more solid form. As mentioned in a previous discussion in class, there are a couple moments where the younger narrator is aware of the white suppression, for example the "white blindfold" that he realizes he can see through in chapter 1 and the fact that he questions the true meaning of the statue on his campus.
From these realizations, I believe that the narrator's idea of invisibility centers around the balance or imbalance between the person that one believes themselves to be and the person that others see. Even in real life, people naturally judge others by their appearance, race, and other similar aspects, and from these judgments, people are "grouped together" and are not thought of as individuals. In the novel so far, no character has been shown to have a personality or individuality other than the narrator in the present. Maybe this was a deliberate decision to show how even the reader is supposed to categorize the characters depending on the descriptions the narrator gives (Mr. Norman as a Santa Claus-like figure or just an amount of wealth, Trueblood being depicted by the narrator as representing the whole black community, etc.).
"How can he tell this to white men, I thought, when he knows they'll say that all Negroes do such things?"Another interesting comment the narrator makes is that other people don't know that they're invisible. Could this be because they don't yet know themselves well enough? or are they just not aware that they are being generalized by others' preexisting prejudices? The narrator's definition of invisibility puts an ironic twist to the phrase "seeing through someone".
The narrator is an invisible man. However, so is everyone else. We are all invisible to each other. We are not ghosts or science experiments, but individuals with flesh and bone that people other than ourselves couldn't possibly understand fully. We are always seen with peoples' inner eyes and will inevitably become "invisible" to them. I think that this is the message that the author is trying to give about invisibility to the reader.
I look forward to seeing my thoughts change and get proved wrong as I read further into the book and come to new realizations about how the author finally discovers his invisibility.
CJ
