Invisible Man Reading Questions 10-12

Chapter 10

1. Consider the racial connotations of Liberty Paints. Think about the company name, trademark, slogans, government contracts, and Optic White. What do you think the company symbolizes? Why has the company been hiring Blacks?

→ The company symbolizes the idea of having an all white America.

2. Think about how Optic White is manufactured. What do the 10 drops of “dead black liquid” symbolize?

→ The 10 drops of dead black liquid symbolizes the hard work that they make the African Americans do and slavery.

3. Note that Lucius Brockway works deep in the basement of the factory, hidden from view. Is this symbolic? How is Brockway like Bledsoe? How is he different?

→ Brockway is hidden because he is not important. They don’t put much importance to him because like Bledsoe, he is black and therefore has no power.

4. How is Brockway himself like the 10 drops?

→ The people don’t know he is there.

5. After the explosion on p. 230, the narrator is thrust “into a wet blast of black emptiness that is somehow a bath of whiteness". How does this immersion of a Black man into a world of whiteness continue the expressionism of the chapter?

→ It shows that whites were taking control of the black people and making them do whatever they want them to do. It’s a sense of emptiness because they have no will to do anything on their own.

Chapter 11

The expressionist images of chapter 10 are black and white. Here they are death and rebirth.

1. What images of this chapter echo the Battle Royal?

→ When the narrator realizes he is invisible.

2. The doctors at the factory hospital shock the narrator until he enters a warm watery world. Look for other images of the womb and birth.

→ The crowning of the baby and the contractions the mother has.

3. Afterwards, the narrator is a blank slate with no memory or identity. How do the doctor’s questions develop this image of rebirth?

→ They tell him about his past.

4. Why has the narrator been reborn? What aspects of his old identity have died?

→ The narrator has been reborn to fix the mistakes from the past and find out his own identity.

5. Buckeye the Rabbit is the same as Brer Rabbit. Remember the reference to the Tar Baby in chapter 10? In realizing that he is Buckeye the Rabbit, the narrator finds the wit and strength to escape from the machine. How is the machine like Trueblood’s clock? How does Buckeye the Rabbit embody the folk wisdom of the narrator’s childhood? How has he been reborn into the identity he at first denied upon arriving in New York?

→ The machine is like Trublodd’s clock because there is no way out meaning that time waits for no one.

6. What lesson has the narrator learned?

→ The lesson learned is that you should not be afraid of what will happen next.

Chapter 12

1. In what way is the narrator childlike?

→ The narrator is childlike because he no longer cares what he does right.

2. How does he permanently close off the link with his old aspirations and dreams?

→ He does this by leaving where he was at and thinking about going back to the South.

Invisible Man Chapters 6-9 Reading Questions

Chapter 6

1. What shocking aspects of Bledsoe’s character are revealed to the narrator?

→ Bledsoe believes that he has lot of power and that he is better than most of the black people just because he has authority in the college.

2. What specific statements does Bledsoe make that show his concern is for himself rather than for the school or for the advancement of other Blacks?

→  "I'll have every Negro in the country hanging from tree limbs by morning if it means staying where I am" (pg. 112)

3. Read the last paragraph on p. 146 beginning “How did I come to this?” What do you make of the paragraph in terms of the narrator’s struggle to find his identity?

→ The narrator believes that Bledsoe is a bad person. He loses all respect for him because he thought he had done things right. The narrator believes that he can be successful doing things the right way and not being corrupted by others or his surroundings.

Chapter 7

1. Who does the narrator meet on the bus to New York? Why does the encounter make him uncomfortable?

→ The narrator meets the veteran saw at  Golden Day.

2. On p. 152, the narrator is told New York is “not a place, it’s a dream.” Interpret this statement.    → New York is seen has a very beautiful place. It was a better state to live in if you were a person of color to live at because it was up North and less racism.
3. How does the fate of the vet parallel the fate of the narrator? Think of how both are controlled.

→ I believe that what the fate of the narrator and the fate of the vet was parallel because they both had someone that was holding them back from doing what they wanted to do.

4. Reread the final paragraph on p. 153. What do you make of the vet’s advice?

→ The vet’s advice to the narrator was good advice. He said it nicely and wasn’t rude or racist to the narrator.

5. On p. 155, the vet says, “there’s always an element of crime in freedom.” What does this statement mean to you? Do you agree or disagree?

→ I believe he is right. For everything you get, there is something that you have to give back in return. For example, living in the United States we are considered to have “freedom”, however, we have laws that prohibit us from doing things that we want. It’s not complete freedom.

6. Describe the narrator’s encounter with Ras.

→ The narrator is intimidated and scared of Ras.

Chapter 8

1. In the first six chapters, the narrator’s identity is defined by the scholarship. Now the letters define it. Describe them.

→ The letters were mysterious because Bledsoe did not let anyone see them.  

2. Notice the narrator’s decision to get a watch. How does fit with his new identity? Look for other images to watches and time.

→ The watch will be a good thing for the narrator because now he can use accordingly to the schedule he has and make it on time.

3. How does the narrator deny his Southern heritage? Why does he do this?

→ The narrator begins to change the way he speaks because he believes that if he speaks like a southerner, he would be treated badly.

4. Why do you think the narrator dreams of his grandfather?

→ The narrator dreams about his grandfather because the narrator has not listened to the warnings his grandfather gave him in the beginning.

Chapter 9

1. How does Peter Wheatstraw (with plans) make the narrator homesick?

→ He sang a song that he heard back when he was in the South.

2. What is the symbolism of Wheatstraw’s blueprints?

→  They represent goals for the future.

3. How does the narrator continue to deny his Southern heritage?

→ He does not buy the deals at the drugstore.

4. Look at the details from Emerson’s office.

→ Emerson's office is colorful and filled with different objects from around the world.  

5. Why does Emerson keep referring to Huck Finn?

→  Emerson continues to refer to Huck Finn because it is a story of a black man and a white kid that try to travel u North but get deeper into the South. This is like that the narrator is experiencing. He traveled to the North in hopes to better himself.

6. Walt Whitman wrote a series of homoerotic poems called the Calamus poems. Can you make any inferences about young Emerson from his reference to the Calamus Club?

→ Emerson is homosexual.

7. Why might young Emerson identify with the narrator and Blacks in general?

→ During this time, people that were anything but heterosexual were disrespected and so he could not say his beliefs freely or openly in fear of not being a respectable man.

Invisible Man Chapters 3-5 Reading Questions

Chapter 3

1. Look carefully at the descriptions of the Golden Day. What is it? What has it been in the past? Is there any symbolism in the description? 

àThe Golden Day is a bar but it was a mental hospital.

2. Describe the veterans at the Golden Day.

à  The veterans were very conservative since they were from the South. They really didn’t protest or offended the African American people.

3. Read p. 81 carefully and comment on the ways that the normal rules of society are reversed at the Golden Day.

à  The owner and the people that work there are black.

4. The vet who had been a doctor gives the narrator a warning. What is it?

à The doctor tells the narrator that his invisibility was causing him more harm than good. He wants the narrator to be known for something rather than to keep quiet.

5. The vet is the first to introduce the narrator to the concept of invisibility (pp. 94-95) and blindness. How do his comments tie into the statements the narrator makes in the Prologue?

àThis connects to the prologue because the white people did not see the black people as being human but they saw them as a thing and because they were invisible, it was harder for them to stand out.

Chapter 4

1. Look at the description of the campus. How does it contrast with the Golden Day? 

à At Golden Day, it was messy and unorganized and in the campus it was clean and organized.

2. Why does the narrator call the campus “a flower-studded wasteland?” 

àThe campus was very well maintained and it looked very pretty. It was well organized.

3. List as many images (with page numbers) as you can find in this chapter of black against white.

à "while black and bald and everything white folks poked fun at, he had achieved power and authority.” (pg. 79)

4. List all the images you can find (with page numbers) of masks and veils in this chapter.

à" composed his angry face like a sculptor, making it a bland mask" (pg. 81)

 "a veil seemed to fall" (pg. 81).

5. How does the scene in Bledsoe’s office parallel the Battle Royal scene?

à It parallels to the Battle Royal scene because Bledsoe is bigger(stronger) than the narrator.

Chapter 5

1. Retell briefly the story of the founder. How does it parallel the story of the narrator? 

à The founder got his education and got out of living a poor life. The same thing happened to the narrator but the narrator furthered on his education.

2. In what ways has Bledsoe perverted the founder’s dream?

à Bledsoe wanted the money rather than giving the education to the black people that attended the college.

3. Is there any symbolism in Bledsoe’s name? 

àBledsoe symbolizes someone that is greedy for power.

4. Consider Rev. Homer Barbee’s name and blindness. Is there a classical allusion? 

àI’m not sure

5. Does the revelation of Barbee’s blindness force the narrator to reevaluate Barbee’s statements? Why?

à  It distorts the narrators perspective of Barbee because he cannot see who is black and who is white. Barbee cannot see what has happened to the school since he lost his ability to see.

6. Examine the images of rebirth on p. 110. Why do you feel Ellison included them?

à Ellison included them to show that everyone can advance to a better state in which they were born if they really intended to do so.

Chapter 1

1.     How does the Battle Royal illuminate to the narrator the differences between Blacks and Whites? 

à The narrator expresses the differences between Blacks and the Whites when talking about the battle royal by calling them names like “sonsabitches” and showing that they only take action if they don’t get in trouble for being racist.

2. What shocking surprises does the narrator have that night? 

à The narrator has to fight with someone who is bigger than he is.

3. How does the Battle Royal symbolize the narrator’s struggle for identity? 

 àThe Battle Royal symbolizes the narrator’s struggle for identity because while he is fighting, he is blindfolded. The other man that he is fighting is also black and the audience doesn’t care who he is because he is Black.

4. How does it symbolize the plight of Blacks in that time period in general? 

à During that time period, whites ridiculed blacks and used them for entertainment purposes only. Like the fight, it was a all white audience and blacks had to entertain them.

5. The narrator gives a number of speeches throughout the novel. This is the first. Study it carefully and write a brief summary. What is the topic and why is that topic ironic? 

 à In his first Speech, he talks about humility and states “On my graduation day I delivered an oration in which I showed that humility was the secret, indeed, the very essence of progress. (Not that I believed this -- how could I, remembering my grandfather? -- I only believed that it worked.) It was a great success. Everyone praised me and I was invited to give the speech at a gathering of the town's leading white citizens. It was a triumph for our whole community. This is ironic because, even though he was feeling shy on the inside, he was confident and felt like he was “Booker T. Washington”

6. In what ways are the Blacks at the smoker humiliated? Why do the White men take such pleasure in that humiliation?

 à The black man are humiliated because they are forced to do things they don’t want to do like fight in the Battle Royale and watching a women dance and get aroused.

 7. The narrator clings to the White man’s chair and thinks of tossing the man on the electrified rug. How does this scene symbolize the consequences of Black rebellion in a White world?

à This action symbolizes that even if Blacks do fight back, they will not get anywhere because the stereotypes made towards black will remain the same or get even stronger because of the actions they choose to show.

8. List all reference to the image of blindness.

à The blindfold and the blinding lights.

9. What is the significance of the narrator’s dream at the end of the chapter? 

à The significance about the dream at the end of the chapter is that the narrator is willing to do anything as long as he can find a way to stay.

 Chapter 2

1.How does the statue of the founder fit into the sight imagery begun in the Prologue?

 àThe veil represented the education that the black people had. If the veil was lifted it meant that black people would have education. If it wasn’t lifted it meant that they wouldn’t have education.

2. Look at the “Maxims of Emerson” handout. Are Norton’s comments ironic? Why or why not? 

 à It is ironic because in some of his beliefs, he supports white men.

3. Notice that Norton smokes a cigar. Does this connect him to other men of power? Who?

à It portrays him to have more power because back then, cigars were more expensive and only the wealthy people bought cigars.

4. Do you sense anything unnatural about Norton’s relationship with his daughter (on p. 51)?

àNorton says his daughter "too good.”

5. Norton seems amazed that Trueblood has “looked upon chaos and [is] not destroyed.” What do you make of this comment? 

àNorton thinks that  incest is an atrocious crime.

6. How might the clock in Trueblood’s dream symbolize the modern mechanized world?

à The clock symbolizes that time goes on and that time waits for no one.

7. Do you find any symbolism in Trueblood’s name?

 à The symbolism in Trueblood’s name is that he slept with one of his relatives.

8. Did you find the incest story disturbing? Why does Ellison include it? 

àEllison includes the incest story because it shows that even though they do do these wrong things, they are still human. The story was disturbing.