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David Horowitz Period 7 Quinn Invisible Man Themes 1) Balancing social and
personal responsibility The central problem the narrator encounters throughout
his life deals with the balance between social and personal responsibility. The
public and private self of a black man come into continual conflict. Most often,
the personal nature of the man is forced to give up his morals and or family
values in order to present himself in better light to the white society.
Trueblood said, But what I don't understand is how I done the worse thing a man
can do in his own family and 'stead of things gittin' bad, they got better. The
nigguhs up at the school don't like me, but the white folks treats me fine (68).
Sometimes the split between the two halves is not even visible to the Invisible
Man. Racist stereotypes and other people's schemes confound his attempts to know
himself. Here within this quiet greenness I possessed the only identity I had
ever known, and I was losing (99). On the other hand, Dr. Bledsoe's personality
is revealed in the open at a school assembly as he gives a swift glance carrying
a threat for all (115). He is subordinate to the white guests out of necessity
but exerts his authority brutally over all of the blacks at the school. He will
later say, I've made my place in it and I'll have every Negro in the country
hanging on tree limbs by morning if it means staying where I am (143). At a low
point, the Invisible Man even thinks, If you made an appointment with one of
them [white persons] you couldn't bring them any slow c.p. (colored people's)
time (163).
He feels that he needs to somehow measure up to the white man's
society by working on his own habits. Finally, the separation between his social
progress and his attempt to stay in touch with himself became so distant, that I
realized that I no longer knew my own name (239). 2) An attempt at Social
progress The dream of social progress for black Americans offered by the
college's ideology breeds treachery and division. Dr. Bledsoe betrays the entire
community with his surrender to the white nation, and the entire college turns
its back on Trueblood. It also gives an implied acceptance of second class
status for blacks. This hypocrisy betrays the narrator and the entire Harlem
community. Rather than unite various oppressed groups, it divides them. The
college hated Trueblood out of fear that the white community would also dismiss
him as a disgrace to society. I didn't understand in those pre-invisible days
that their hate, and mine too, was charged with fear.... We were trying to lift
them up and they, like Trueblood, did everything it seemed to pull us down (47).
Because blacks were judged as a whole group and not as individuals, the blacks
closer to the white man began to hat those that were farther away. They were
viewed as impediments to their effort. This dream continues and grows into a
desire to move forward, to move to New York. New York! That's not a place, it's
a dream. When I was your age it was Chicago. Now all the little black boys run
away to New York. Out of the fire and into the melting pot (152). 3) Black v.
White The ideology of the 'model black citizen' is present ever since the
Invisible Man's grandfather speaks at his deathbed. Even the college that he
attends that its followers shun the heritage of black Southern folk culture. It
demands that its followers try not to be too black. They should break completely
with their pasts and assume new identities. In the first chapter, the Invisible
man is submissive to white charity in this demeaning manner. After the battle
royal, he is presented with a scholarship and told to take this prize and keep
it well...some day it will be filled with important papers that will help shape
the destiny of your people (32). This show's how blacks were thought of as only
products of whites' deeds. When Mr. Norton asks to speak with Trueblood, the
Invisible Man responds with this question, Why couldn't he leave them alone?
(50). It presents the idea of the white man's burden and its unwelcome reaction.
Bledsoe becomes outraged at the Invisible Man for not recognizing the struggle
of the black man. He ordered you. Dammit, white folk are always giving orders,
it's a habit with them. Why didn't you make an excuse?…You're black and living
in the South - did you forget how to lie? (139)
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