IDENTITY.
The narrator in Invisible Man experiences several different transformations and revelations in identity. Let’s explore some of these instances…
1. Battle Royal—
“A hot, violent force tore through my body, shaking me like a wet rat. The rug was electrified. The men roared above us as we struggled” (27).
Life for African Americans is often "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short." These famous words of Thomas Hobbes from his Leviathan aptly apply to the horrible scene when the narrator and several other young African American men are forced by white men to fight in a Battle Royal. The young men are isolated, blindfolded, and forced to brutally fight against each other, all while being taunted and called insulting names. After the “battle,” fake coins are thrown onto a rug for the black men to pick up. The rug is electrified. In reality, this is actually a sick game created by the white men to watch how the black men react, as though they are mere puppets.
Ellison initially presents this picture of the condition for many African Americans to show what it is that the narrator is faced with—an environment in which much of the population views him as an inferior being created merely to satisfy their sick pleasures.
“A hot, violent force tore through my body, shaking me like a wet rat. The rug was electrified. The men roared above us as we struggled” (27).
Life for African Americans is often "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short." These famous words of Thomas Hobbes from his Leviathan aptly apply to the horrible scene when the narrator and several other young African American men are forced by white men to fight in a Battle Royal. The young men are isolated, blindfolded, and forced to brutally fight against each other, all while being taunted and called insulting names. After the “battle,” fake coins are thrown onto a rug for the black men to pick up. The rug is electrified. In reality, this is actually a sick game created by the white men to watch how the black men react, as though they are mere puppets.
Ellison initially presents this picture of the condition for many African Americans to show what it is that the narrator is faced with—an environment in which much of the population views him as an inferior being created merely to satisfy their sick pleasures.
2. Hospital Rebirth—
“WHO…ARE…YOU?” (238).
“ I felt a tug at my belly and looked down to see one of the physicians pull the cord which was attached to the stomach node, jerking me forward” (240).
A coming change is indicated by the narrator’s “rebirth” in the hospital ward after suffering from an explosion at the paint factory. The narrator is faced, perhaps for the first time, with questions of who he is and where he came from. A cord or proverbial umbilical cord is removed from his stomach and the narrator is raised from his glass enclosure.
“WHO…ARE…YOU?” (238).
“ I felt a tug at my belly and looked down to see one of the physicians pull the cord which was attached to the stomach node, jerking me forward” (240).
A coming change is indicated by the narrator’s “rebirth” in the hospital ward after suffering from an explosion at the paint factory. The narrator is faced, perhaps for the first time, with questions of who he is and where he came from. A cord or proverbial umbilical cord is removed from his stomach and the narrator is raised from his glass enclosure.
3. Brotherhood Identity—
“This is your new identity….That is your new name” (309).
The narrator joins “the Brotherhood” and is given a brand new identity and name. This is a step in the narrator’s journey to self-realization. Although his name and actions are being dictated by the Brotherhood, the narrator holds on to his own way of thinking, determined that he “would be no one except myself—whoever I was” (311)
“This is your new identity….That is your new name” (309).
The narrator joins “the Brotherhood” and is given a brand new identity and name. This is a step in the narrator’s journey to self-realization. Although his name and actions are being dictated by the Brotherhood, the narrator holds on to his own way of thinking, determined that he “would be no one except myself—whoever I was” (311)
4. Emerging Self-Discovery—
“This was a new phase, I realized, a new beginning, and I would have to take that part of myself that looked on with remote eyes and keep it always at the distance of the campus, the hospital machine, the battle royal—all now far behind….I was becoming someone else” (335)
“I feel, I feel suddenly that I have become more human” (346).
When the narrator speaks on behalf of the Brotherhood for the first time, he experiences a revelation of feeling “more human.” He feels stronger, sharper, and clearer in mind and purpose.
“This was a new phase, I realized, a new beginning, and I would have to take that part of myself that looked on with remote eyes and keep it always at the distance of the campus, the hospital machine, the battle royal—all now far behind….I was becoming someone else” (335)
“I feel, I feel suddenly that I have become more human” (346).
When the narrator speaks on behalf of the Brotherhood for the first time, he experiences a revelation of feeling “more human.” He feels stronger, sharper, and clearer in mind and purpose.
5. Revelation of Futility of the Brotherhood—
“Everywhere I have turned someone has wanted to sacrifice me for my good—only they were the ones who benefitted” (505).
“Which eye is really the blind one?” (478).
“But I would never be the same” (478).
“Only in the Brotherhood has there seemed a chance for such as us…but behind the polished and humane façade of Jack’s eye I’d found an amorphous form and a harsh red rawness….My ambition and integrity were nothing to them” (505).
With the popping out of the Brotherhood leader Jack’s glass eye comes the realization that the Brotherhood has never really cared about the narrator. The leaders of the Brotherhood have been both physically and spiritually blind to the presence of the narrator and the people to whom the Brotherhood claimed to be helping. This disillusions the narrator, who decides that he will stop letting the Brotherhood use him as a puppet and tool and instead exploit the Brotherhood for his own purposes
“Everywhere I have turned someone has wanted to sacrifice me for my good—only they were the ones who benefitted” (505).
“Which eye is really the blind one?” (478).
“But I would never be the same” (478).
“Only in the Brotherhood has there seemed a chance for such as us…but behind the polished and humane façade of Jack’s eye I’d found an amorphous form and a harsh red rawness….My ambition and integrity were nothing to them” (505).
With the popping out of the Brotherhood leader Jack’s glass eye comes the realization that the Brotherhood has never really cared about the narrator. The leaders of the Brotherhood have been both physically and spiritually blind to the presence of the narrator and the people to whom the Brotherhood claimed to be helping. This disillusions the narrator, who decides that he will stop letting the Brotherhood use him as a puppet and tool and instead exploit the Brotherhood for his own purposes
6. Transformation into Rhinehart--
“If dark glasses and a white hat could blot out my identity so quickly, who actually was who?” (493).
The narrator is mistaken for the counterfeit preacher and lover Rhinehart, and uses this mistaken identity to his advantage in order to stay safe from Ras’s men. The narrator determines to use the lessons he has learned from Rhinehart—use people rather than let them use you—in his interactions with the Brotherhood.
“If dark glasses and a white hat could blot out my identity so quickly, who actually was who?” (493).
The narrator is mistaken for the counterfeit preacher and lover Rhinehart, and uses this mistaken identity to his advantage in order to stay safe from Ras’s men. The narrator determines to use the lessons he has learned from Rhinehart—use people rather than let them use you—in his interactions with the Brotherhood.
7. Realization and Acceptance of True Identity--
“I am an invisible man” (3).
“And my problem was that I always tried to go in everyone’s way but my own” (573).
“I’m coming out, no less invisible…but coming out nevertheless. And I suppose it’s damn well time” (581).
“I’ve overstayed my hibernation, since there’s a possibility that even an invisible man has a socially responsible role to play” (581).
“Who knows but that, on the lower frequencies, I speak for you?” (581).
The narrator is a man who is seen as invisible by much of his world. He realizes this, but recognizes that it is not a fault of his own, but rather the fault of those who "refuse to see [him]" (3). He believes that he does indeed have his own voice and, and he exercises that voice in the near 600 pages of the novel's length. The narrator ends by telling the reading that he has not just been speaking out for his own benefit but that, “on lower frequencies,” perhaps he has been speaking in order to empower the reader to exercise the voice he or she has been given.
“I am an invisible man” (3).
“And my problem was that I always tried to go in everyone’s way but my own” (573).
“I’m coming out, no less invisible…but coming out nevertheless. And I suppose it’s damn well time” (581).
“I’ve overstayed my hibernation, since there’s a possibility that even an invisible man has a socially responsible role to play” (581).
“Who knows but that, on the lower frequencies, I speak for you?” (581).
The narrator is a man who is seen as invisible by much of his world. He realizes this, but recognizes that it is not a fault of his own, but rather the fault of those who "refuse to see [him]" (3). He believes that he does indeed have his own voice and, and he exercises that voice in the near 600 pages of the novel's length. The narrator ends by telling the reading that he has not just been speaking out for his own benefit but that, “on lower frequencies,” perhaps he has been speaking in order to empower the reader to exercise the voice he or she has been given.