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What are the mysteries here?
Remember that this is a novel of the surreal
A novel of dreams
Battle Royal is a nightmare - but there's a foreshadowing of the idea that someone can beat an expert by using time (the yokel versus the skilled fighter) - syncopation - a big part of West African music
the position of the Battle royal in the beginning - leaves the reader thrown off balance -
blindfoldedness of the Battle Royal leads to the unblinding that occurs when he reads the Dr Bledsoe letter
reader is off balance in part because we keep moving to strange new environments - from one episode to another
prologue - invisible man beats up the white man who doesn't see him but he doesn't kill him, in contrast to Bigger Thomas in Native Son, (Richard Wright) - he's giving a warning that he's writing a different kind of book
Ellison is arguing against linear time - we don't make straightforward progress
At the slave quarters, IM comes under the power of a great author - Trueblood - he is an orator, who totally controls the scene - possibly deliberately giving Mr. Norton what he desires, something he (Norton) can never actually have
Trueblood's cabin represents the era of slavery
Golden Day - the vets are vets of WWI. Lots of black troops in WWI. NAACP had to fight to allow black soldiers to have combat roles - Harlem Hellfighters - they thought they could prove themselves, but when they returned, nothing had changed
Supercargo / superego - should control the id- he is the supervisor of the vets - he gets knocked out - what happens when desire and race collide and there's no more control -
everything in the book is working in several different tracks - IM wants to listen to Armstrong on five different phonographs - this is part of the modernist aesthetic
Shout-outs to TS Eliot - beginning of Chapter 2 description of Tuskegee - Ellison loved Eliot - he masters ragtime rhythms
vet / doctor - manic - very wise - our culture has decided that great intelligence in African Americans is seen as madness
What about Bledsoe? he's not a blood anymore because of his behavior - a historical replacement for Booker T Washington
Bledsoe is a figure of the will to power - almost like a fascist - beyond good and evil - only the pursuit of personal power
NAACP was formed in part to knock Booker T Washington off his pedestal of power
WEB Dubois became a national figure in part because he challenged Booker T
In Doctorow's Ragtime Booker T is portrayed as an Uncle Tom
this is a novel about education - about the process - it can be a violent process - a bildungsroman - a de-idealization of a young person - learning about where power lies and how it works
IM doesn't have friends, doesn't make friends, doesn't really have real conversations -
Ellison is a self cultivated individualist - during the black power movement, Ellison was seen as a sort of loner
Homer A Barbee is blind - like the other Homer - IM is an African American epic - like Odyssey
Ellison is always braiding traditions together -
narrator is dangerous because Bledsoe can't read him
Bledsoe has decided what the message is supposed to be -
IM is a wild card
battle royal sets up the question about agency
Who was crueler - the white small-town power of the Battle Royal, or the black power of Bledsoe sending him to NY with no hope
Bledsoe's cruelty may have really set IM free
identity of the founder - not clear to some readers, but it's believed to be Booker T. Washington
Booker T Washington - getting ahead by going along - he tried to carve out something from what exists now
Book: Doctrine of Self Help - biggest selling book in Victorian England - this encapsulates Booker T.
Bledsoe's letters were evil
Did Bledsoe trip Homer Barbee - "he floundered on Dr. Bledsoe's legs" - Ellison leaves us 'in the dark' on this issue
Perplexing character - the asylum doctor - what is the purpose of this character - are we supposed to believe that a highly intelligent African American would only be crazy -
Mr Norton is looking for his legacy - he meets the 'mad' doctor, who was once at the college
are the mad vets some hint of rumors, low-level awareness of Syphilis Experiments at Tuskegee
Giving his speech after the Battle Royal- was it strength or naivete
IM's speech is what legitimizes the Chamber of Commerce event for the white men
After the trauma of the Battle Royal, rather than throwing away the briefcase, he clutches it to himself - he wins
Briefcase is an important item - it's like a trophy - that's when he begins to become invisible
We wear the Mask - the receipt of the briefcase, passing the test, reminded a reader of this poem (by Paul Laurence Dunbar) - grandfather's advice is related to this poem
IM knew he was selling out when he substituted 'responsibility' for 'equality'
Invisibility is frequently a superpower
Invisibility is a very relatable concept for our times - elderly people, for example
the prologue vs the rest of the book - almost seems to be written by two different people
what are the motives of young Emerson - is he trying to help - is he a sadist trying to pluck the fly's wings?
Invisible Man is Everyman (and woman) - it crosses age, race, gender, status
Title (without 'the') reflects the consciousness that this is about everyone
a reader relates to One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest
a reader sees the positive side of invisibility - we should strive to 'not see' the differences
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