The Blue Room

Equestrian Portrait of the Count Duke Olivares  by Kehinde Wiley (2005) Having now finished Invisible Man , I find that there is an aspect of the novel that I am conflicted about and have been since the prologue: the narrator’s acceptance of his invisibility. In the prologue, when the narrator is first introducing the concept of invisibility, he says, “I am not complaining, not am I protesting either. It is sometimes advantageous to be unseen, although it is most often rather wearing on the nerves” (3). I find this passage interesting because the narrator is explicit about the hardships of being invisible (and then proceeds to write a whole book about them), but he also seems rather accepting of his invisibility. On one hand, I think it would be impossible for the narrator to be “visible.” His invisibility is completely out of his control and has entirely to do with the fact that he is a black man living in a racist society. Additionally, before discovering his invisibility, the ...

  Mending Socks  by Archibald Motley Jr. (1924) Though as of the last reading the narrator is still involved in the Brotherhood, he has become increasingly disenchanted with the organization, especially after Clifton’s death. However, he is hesitant to leave the Brotherhood because “it [is] the only historically meaningful life that [he] could live” and he has “lost too much” of himself to go back to being who he was before he found the Brotherhood (478). Though the latter reason is important as it pertains to the theme of identity in this novel, for the purposes of this blog post I am interested in exploring the narrator’s concern with the idea of being “historically meaningful.” The narrator’s desire to be remembered in history seems closely related to his ambitious nature and desire to climb to the top of anything he pursues. Throughout the novel the narrator has had a deep desire that he has yet to shake, which is to be powerful in a way that allows him to be visible to ...