I'm curious to know what you think of the symbols and motifs in Invisible Man. Some are listed that occur throughout the novel below, but feel free to comment on others that you've observed as well.
*Blindness (in general, and Bledsoe's glass eye later)
*Invisibility- why does the narrator continue to claim that he's invisible? Why do you think he remains unnamed to the reader throughout the novel? How is his "invisibility" related to his identity?
*the Liberty Paints Plant (and the way in which the Optic White paint is created, etc.)
*the Sambo doll
*the leg irons (contrast Bledsoe's with the one given to the narrator)
*the coin bank
*the taboo of interracial relationships
*masks
Other general questions to consider: Why is it significant that the narrator goes underground to steal "power" in the prologue? What political orientation/mode of thought does Bledsoe represent? Ras the Exhorter? the Brotherhood?
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Edith Wharton
John Steinbeck
Mark Twain
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Ralph Ellison
Alice Walker
3 comments:
The narrator remains nameless throughout the novel to enforce the fact that he thinks he is invisible. He is not singled out so much as he is part of the group. It's almost like he is a mass of faceless people, none having an identity. After his hospital visit, he does not know who he is, furthermore making him think he is invisible.
The motto of Liberty Paints is "keep America pure"; but the white paint is made with a mysterious black substance that seems to be something worth keeping secret. When the narrator asks the foreman what exactly is in the substance, the foreman snaps at him, and tells him to do what he's told. It doesn't seem very pure to me.
Again with Liberty Paints, which represents American society. The company thrusts out a pure white paint that seems to be able to blot out any dark stain around and make it invisible. Similarly, the novel portrays that white people and culture are the front runners of society and they make everyone else invisible based upon their beliefs of everyone around them.
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