Invisible Man
Themes
Identity– The narrator in the novel is invisible throughout and we don’t even know his name. He is also invisible to those around him wherever he goes. They don’t see him for his ideologies and what he believes in.
It is only when he puts on the identity of another person that people see him. When he adorns the identity of Rinehart, he is seen anywhere he goes. We also discover that he doesn’t even see himself to know the perception of the people about him.
He also doesn’t see the true reflections of the people. Everything becomes clearer when he is in the hole. He discovers that Jack is the author of the anonymous letter addressed to him in the office while in the hole.
Racism– This is the unfair treatment of people who belong to a different race. This really affects the narrator who is invisible to the people as a result of his colour. The race he belongs to haunts him anywhere he goes.
This puts him in problems right from the beginning of the novel starting from Dr. Bledsoe to his membership of the Brotherhood. According to the narrator, Tod Clifton was killed by the white policeman because he was black.
Inhumanity– The blacks in this novel are segregated and are inhumanly treated. The invitation of the narrator to deliver a speech to the white elites of the town turns into a boxing bout where the black boys wound themselves and the white are catching funs of the encounter.
Also, Lucius Brockway, the uneducated black man that works with Liberty Paints works in the most dangerous section of the factory, in which no white man will be willing to work there for any amount.
Deception– Dr. Bledsoe in the novel is deceptive. He gives the narrator some letters which he claims will help him in getting a job, while the content of the letters read that he should not be allowed to come back to the college again.
He is also seen deceiving the white trustees and the students. The narrator also takes to deception in order to be relevant among the members of the Brotherhood. He says “yes” to whatever Jack says.
He also deceives Ras’ men to save his head and this leads him to his being referred to as Rinehart by the people.
Ambition– The narrator at the beginning of the novel admires Dr. Bledsoe and Mr. Norton and takes them to be his role models. His ambition at that time is to one day become Dr. Bledsoe’s assistant, but eventually sees the true picture of Dr. Bledsoe.
Dr. Bledsoe’s letters also instruct that he shouldn’t be allowed back in the school again. We also see the thwarting of his ambition to become somebody in the society when he receives a briefcase at the Battle Royal that contains a paper that reads, “To Whom it May Concern, Keep This Nigger- Boy Running.
To the Brotherhood also, the integrity and the ambition of the narrator is nothing to them, that is why he doesn’t enjoy their cooperation and thwart his efforts.
Seduction– After the narrator is sent out of Harlem and given another assignment to lecture downtown on the Woman Question. After attending to the women, a particular woman seeks to have a private session with the narrator.
The woman then invites him to her house where she seduces the narrator. Another instance of seduction in the novel is when the narrator is desperate to get information about the programmes of the Brotherhood that are hidden from him.
He plans to make use of Sybil, the wife of George, one of the members of the Brotherhood to get information. He invites her to her apartment but discovers that the lady has no interest in politics and doesn’t know anything about her husband concerning the Brotherhood.
Sybil is only after seducing the narrator to have an affair with her. The narrator only drinks her to sleep and pretends that he had sex with her.
Women and Feminity– In this novel, blacks and white women are in the same class, both categories of people are oppressed by white male society. None of the women met by the narrator understands their situation; they are presented as being suffering from their male counterparts.
Death– Tod Clifton, who was once a member of the Brotherhood is gunned down by a white policeman for auctioning Sambo dolls on the street because of his colour. Several deaths are also recorded during the riot that takes place after the death of Clifton.
Mr. Norton also tells about the death of his beautiful daughter whom he makes use of hyperbola statements to describe her beauty. He says the girl died in Italy when they were touring the world.