A comment tally update is listed on the Beloved post. Be sure to finish up your five blog comments for Beloved by the end of the day on July 8th if you haven't already. Please email me if you have any questions, etc., as I am in Florida, reading Invisible Man on the beach! If you've already finished Beloved and have moved on to Invisible Man, then, by all means, start your comments here and get ahead- getting done early is a beautiful thing. Here are some possible prompts to reply to when reading the Prologue (taken from an AP guide to the novel):
*How would you describe the tone of the first two paragraphs?
*What is ironic about the narrator's encounter with the blond man?
*What does it mean when the narrator says that the blond man "had not seen [him]"?
*Who are the "sleeping ones"?
*Explain the narrator's desire for light in his hiding place in the basement.
*What is the relationship between the music of Louis Armstrong and the narrator's sense of invisibility?
*What does the narrator learn about the struggle for freedom during his conversation with a former slave?
Again, you may also comment on any other insights, questions, or observations you make as you read. Connections to Beloved would be pretty cool as well. I'll post some background on the novel soon to help get you started. Looking forward to hearing from you.
25 comments:
In the beginning of "Invisible Man", the narrator runs into a white man who insults him. The narrator attacks the man and demands an apology. It's ironic because the white man says the next day that he was mugged---by an invisible man. The narrator claims invisibility because of the color of his skin and nobody seems to notice him. He feels that others that can't see him are blind. I found the first chapter to be a little odd and I wasn't quite sure what the setting was. Once the second chapter started everything was clear in the story.
In the early chapters I found Mr. Norton to be a very unique character. He explains to the narrator that he is Mr. Norton's destiney, which confuses and excites the narrator. Their encounter with Jim Trueblood is an interesting one because Mr. Norton wants to meet this man after hearing of his scandalous act. I find the narrator, at first, to be a weak character with no courage to stand up for what he does. He does what he is told yet doesn't defend himself when it was the wrong thing to do.
As I finished both novels, I realized that both of the main characters are running from their past and wanting to start over with something new. In "Beloved", Sethe was running from Sweet Home Plantation, the murdering of her baby girl, her sons running away, her husband's absence, and her mother-in-law passing away. In "Invisible Man", the narrator is running away from college and his actions there that led to his new life in New York. He also tries to avoid family and disappointment from them. These character's pasts are flashbacks of the hurt or joy that once was and could never be again. Reading these novels I have come to understand that a person's past is one of many things that can shape an individual for their future, no matter how terrible that past is.
I tend to be so involved with my reading i forget i have to blog about it. Luckly i'm getting this in before the deadline. So to track back to the beginning of the book, i remember i really enjoyed reading the first few chapters. I loved the ties with jazz and Louis armstrong. I love to listen to jazz as well as play it (on the piano). I know a little of the history of jazz, Such as it getting started from the beats of traditional african drums way back when. Then it being changed to "lament the sorrows" of slaves, but that is more along the lines of blues. Jazz and blues are very similar, they both originated from the south, and the beats are very similar
Along with Beloved i really like the author's writing. Whatever the plotline is, the writing is really beautiful. I also like how in Invisible Man the main character doesn't have an actual name, this adds to the point that he is an invisible man.
ok i don't get this... in the first chapter when the main character went to the "fight club" to make his speech. All the white men were gathering around the students, calling them derogatory names. Some of those words are aimed souly at the african american race, but after the narrator made his speech they appauled him! One man yelled something like "make those speaches, to free your people". Talk about hypocrisy!
I think that the narrator actually was at fault for taking Mr. Norton to The Golden Day. If the Narrator would not have driven Mr Norton to the slave quarters, the whole problem would have been eliminated. I mean he could have driven him through town or just circled campus several times. A responsible student would have followed the direction of his authority.
I did not understand what the crazy vet was talking about to Mr. Norton. He seemed as though he was sane, but then he acted like a maniac. I think the narrator should have left as soon as possible. Were all of the vets black? Because the big Supercargo said to act right near white people. If I was the narrator I would have waited untill I got back to the College. He was very irresponsible.
I believe when the blond man says he had not seen him he is saying that the man is nothing to him and not even worth noticing. By calling him an invisible man he is implying that he is of no importance and doesn't deserve to be distinguished amongst others. This has to do with racist matters and the color of his skin.
When I first started this book I was afraid that the book would move very slowly. The writter tened to just drag on oand on. Once I got into the actaul book I realized that the book would actaully turn out pretty well. I like that thewritter keeps the book moving and that he does not flower it up like some writters tend to do. Over all the begining of the book was farily good.
When I got to the part about the fight that happened I was a little shocked. It was kind of disturbing of the discriptions that were brought out in this part. It was very weird. Then when it got to the "payment time" and they would shocked that was just plain mean. I cant believe that anybody would do that evan though the kids were black. It did end well I thought because he recieved the brief case and the scholorship to the school. That was probally the happiest thing that happened in the whole book. I was also very glad that he was able to give his speech in the end to the board, even though they paid no attention to him.
In the part about when he has to drive the white man around, it sounded as though things were doing well for him(kid). I liked that he was able to carry on somewhat of a conversation with him. That just shows that not all white people were jerks. Then when it got to the part about Mr.Trueblodd. It got just a little biot weird. That was so disgusting of what he did to his child. I don't care what you were thinking about in your dreams, do don't do that. He should have known that something was going on. That was the grossest part of the novel. That was worse then the men passing the time with the cows in Beloved.
When the time came when the white man and the kid went into the Golden Day I thought things were goning to be OK at first and then there was mass choas. With the veterans, and Halley who won't serve drinks to the kid everything started to go wrong. Then Mr. Norton passed out and had to be carried into the bar, and there was even more choas. I don't think that Halley should have refused the drink to the kid, because after all the kid told Halley, that he was driving the old man and that he was passed out in the car and that he did not want to have to go get him. But after all Halley had already gotten into trouble because he served beer to the colege kids. It is a very risky situation.
If only Mr. Norton would have known 100% what was going on in the bar then he would have probally would have wanted to leave right away. I could not believe it when the black women came and began flirting with Mr. Norton. That was kind of unexpected. It was also weird how the one man was constantly talking to Mr. Norton while he was trying to come to. It seemed like it was a good conversation but then the kid had to go and screw it up by saying that the man was crazy. I don't care how crazy he was he was helping Mr. Norton come to. The kid seems to screw up everything. This might get really interesting.
When the Narrator says he is invisible, does he mean he is invisible because no one can see who he really is or is he invisible because he is a black man and therefore stereo-typed because of the times? When he attacked the man for insulting him and a article the next day said that the man was mugged, even though nothing was taken from the man, was he wrong for demanding that the man apologize for the insult? I think it was wrong that he was that violent with the man and the attack surprised me because attacking the man would fit in with the view most whites had of the blacks.
I also do not quite get why the bar tender at the Golden Day would insist the Narrator bring Mr. Norton into the bar. Mr. Norton is a prominent man and he is also white. If Mr. Norton chose to do so, he could have had the Golden Day closed down very easily, which the bar tender was afraid of happening anyway, so why insist on bringing him in?
I agree with Haley about the scene at the fight club. The Narrator got in trouble for accidently saying equality instead of reponsibility and he is applauded and cheered. They even send him to college. If he got in trouble for saying "social equality", wouldn't the men not send him to college? If they are against racial equality, why help the Narrator?
The narrator states that in his hole in the basement, he has exactly 1,369 lights. They cover the entire ceiling and he plans on covering all of the walls and the floor. The narrator desires all of the light because sometimes he actually doubts himself that he is visible. He says,"Light confirms my reality, gives birth to my form"(6). He likes to assure himself that though others don't see him, he is really there.
When I read about the fight I was a bit disturbed. The narrator was invited to share his speech, with a slight twist. It angered me to see that he was really just entertainment to the white people. I don't believe that the white citizens even took in what he said. I realized that if they didn't agree then they dismissed him and his words. This
just shows how racism and inequality are strong motivators in that society.
I understand the narrator's grandfather's reasoning. I believe he thinks he is a traitor to his own people. That inside he has given up the fight against inequality. That is why he urges his grandson to conform on the outside to what the black man's status is, but not on the inside. Today it frustrates me that back then blacks had to conform to a lower status so that they would not cause trouble. This book makes me grateful that we have come such a long way, not to the end of the road but miles away from there.
I'm at a crossroads for why the narrator does not have a name. There's two ways one can think of it. One way would be like the reason in Red Badge of Courage. He does not need a name, to convey the moral behind this novel. That the moral refers to a whole race not one person alone, just like in the Red Badge of Courage, the author wanted the reader to see the unit as a whole not just the main character. The other reason may be that the narrator feels invisible in the racist world he lives in. That his existance is futile and worthless.
Since there is no designated section for the prologue I decided to put it here. Some of my favorite quotes of this book are in the prologue. On pg 7 the narrator says "Without light I am not only invisible, but formless as well; and to be unaware of one's form is to live a death. I myself after existing some twenty years, did not become alive until I discovered my invisibility." The significance of the novel's title has to do , I believe, with the narrator's need and struggle to enlighten people about his race and to show that the black race is not the lowly part of society it is seen as (in the time period.) The very beginning of the book has the narrator talking about how he is invisible, but doesn't say how, though dispels many theories about how he is "invisible." My take on it is that the narrator feels invisible when he is looked down upon for being black and not being able to educate white people about how he is not that different from them.
To go with the post above, I see the narrator's developing room of light bulbs as a physical manifestation of his ability to educate others about his self-worth. As he proves himself to more people and becomes more accepting of himself, he adds more light bulbs to his room, completing walls, and the floor and ceiling. Then again, I'm probably wrong.
Again with the flashback of the college and the anonymous founder seems to further depict the racism. The founder and Booker T. Washington were not recognized back then as great leaders, but lost in the predjudiced world. This keeps them, like the narrator, 'invisible' in this novel. All of this going with the theme that racism downplays the inidividualism.
Both of these books with the flashbacks and recallings of past memories bring on a common motif. Blindness. Which is common in Beloved because she refuses to confront her horrible past, memories which come back to haunt her. Then in Invisible man when the narrator talks about how people's inability to see what they don't want to see, the predjudice around them, leads them to be explioted and rediculed.
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