Invisible Man
Chapter Nineteen
The narrator is now at his new post and the first speech records success that a lot of the women approach him afterward for questions and clarifications. One other woman who comes to him last seeks to see him privately feigning that it is late already. She has an ulterior motive for doing this. The narrator agrees to visit her apartment since he is at their service.
The narrator arrives in her well-furnished apartment where the woman tells him that she loves to know about the Brotherhood and its ideologies. She says she is interested in the membership of the Brotherhood, and that she is seeking spiritual security.
She then informs him that Hubert, her husband, would have loved to meet him, but he is away in Chicago, so he doesn’t have time to stay at home.
The woman stealthily changes the discussion, praising the narrator to high heaven about his presentations and gradually seducing him with sweet talk. She offers him wine and they toast together. Suddenly, the narrator perceives that the doorbell rings but it is the phone that rings.
He is scared and wants to leave but the woman tells him not to worry. They are now in the private bedroom. She assures him that her husband is away in Chicago and he is not coming soon.
The phone rings again and the narrator asks her to pick up the call. It is her sister Gwen that calls. The woman is half-naked this time. He tries to move towards the door and the woman bangs the phone and pushes him off his feet to the bed.
The narrator appears dreamt; saw the husband of the woman looking straight at him in the bedroom from where he stood in the dim light of the hall. He also hears the woman stirring beside him calling “dear.” The man also answered, “Yes” and told her to wake him early so that he had a lot to do. The narrator then wakes up, searches for his clothes, and leaves.
The narrator hates himself for involving himself. I’m such a dirty game. He wonders whether he is set up by the members of the Brotherhood. He has his mind on the affairs with the woman and expects that it will be revealed.
His mind also goes to the man with the briefcase that stood by the door whom he could not recognize but looked so familiar. He can’t attend to anything that day; he is scared whenever the phone rings.
He receives no call on the issue till four o’clock. He then puts a call through to the woman at least to hear about the man or if there is any problem. The woman is happy hearing him, and she requests another “discussion” with the narrator again.
The narrator also expects that there will be changes in the relationship between him and Brother Jack and others, but nothing changes. He does not allow the incident to draw him back, he continues delivering his speech. They even expect much from him whenever he is making a speech.
The narrator receives a call one night summoning him to an emergency meeting of the Brotherhood at the headquarters. He leaves the house in fear of the unknown; either the charges or the woman that seduced him. He arrives at the meeting late.
His fears are allayed when he is told that Brother Clifton has been missing for some weeks and it has been affecting the activities of the Brotherhood in Harlem. He is then asked to return to Harlem to put life into the activities of the Brotherhood there.
Chapter Twenty
The narrator is back in Harlem, but everything seems strange to him. He doesn’t go to the district but to the Jolly Dollar bar to look for one Brother Maceo. When he gets there, Brother Maceo is not there. He then sits beside two guys that look familiar to him.
One of them rebuffs him when he calls him brother. He later sees Barrelhouse coming from the other side. Barrelhouse, who is the bartender, greets him and asks him where has been since, he responds that he has been working downtown. Barrelhouse complains about the situation being bad.
One of the two guys named Mac Adams makes a report of the narrator to Barrelhouse that he should warn him to be careful because they don’t understand his type of politics. The narrator is surprised to hear this. He then asks about Brother Maceo from Barrelhouse who answers that he scarcely comes around again.
He says that things are so bad for the people now that many people who got employed through the Brotherhood have lost their jobs, like Brother Maceo. He says further that since the Brotherhood is no longer fighting for them, they have thrown them out of their jobs. He drinks his beer and heads to the district hoping to get information about Brother Clifton from Brother Tarp there.
The narrator doesn’t find anybody in the district. He searches for Brother Tarp around but is nowhere to be found. He then moves to the office and sleeps off on his chair. He later goes ahead to check Brother Tarp’s room, he discovers that it is empty; he now sees that he has gone.
He is surprised to see people in the morning but no one can give him much information on the state of affairs and about Brother Clifton. He only gathers that he did not quarrel with any member of the Brotherhood and no clash with Ras the Exhorter.
The loss of membership is due to the change in the strategy; a switch from local issues to national issues. So, Harlem is not a priority to the Brotherhood for now.
The narrator is expecting a call to the strategy meeting which usually holds one o’clock but no message is received by him. He put calls through to the committee members but couldn’t get any of them. He then suspects that the meeting is being held without him.
He is now confused whether they have investigated Wrestrum’s claims and found them to be true, or the woman that seduced her. He then decides to go to the headquarters for confirmation.
When he gets to the headquarters, the meeting is on and he discovers that they deliberately didn’t send any message to him about the meeting. He leaves the place in annoyance. He decides to buy a new pair of light shoes on Fifth Avenue to aid his movement.
He walks to Forty-Third Street and sees a crowd gathering. He sees a boy he knows to be a close friend of Clifton. He also sees a policeman approaching. He moves towards him as he is likely to know something about Clifton’s whereabouts. The boy sees him and he turns towards the crowd and whistles.
He goes to the front of the crowd to find an orange and black tissue paper doll with a head and feet that dance mysteriously to the chagrin of the narrator. The doll does entertain the people and gives joy; it is sold for twenty-five cents.
The vendor calls the doll “Sambo.” The narrator cannot believe his eyes when he clearly sees the vendor to be Brother Clifton.
Clifton smiles scornfully at the narrator when he sees him. A whistle is being blown intermittently and he continues inviting the crowd. Suddenly, a policeman arrives and Clifton is seen packing the dolls into a carton and runs. He beckons on the crowd to meet him in a corner and they follow him.
The narrator picks a doll from the ground and realizes that it is lifeless and made of piles of paper. He drops it in his pocket. He goes in the other direction past the police officer towards Sixth Avenue.
His thought is now on how Clifton can leave the Brotherhood and be selling an obscene doll about, that he could have sold apples, song sheets, or sign shoes.
The narrator meets another commotion when he turns to Forty-Second Street. It is Clifton being dragged by the police because his partner has escaped from the police. He attacks the officer and his cap flings to the street.
The policeman then gets him to the ground and the narrator sees a pool of liquid collecting in the front of his shirt. He has been shot by the police. The narrator then introduces himself to the police as his friend.
The police request some information about Clifton from the narrator and he gives it to them. Clifton’s body is then carried into the wagon and they drive away.
The narrator walks away from the place and still ruminates over Clifton’s leaving the Brotherhood and auctioning a doll, he views it as plunging into nothingness. He is now on a train and realizes that the people on the train are just like the people in the South or as if he is within the Harlem population.
He sees some boys with a handful of candy bars running away from a store and a man runs after them. The narrator tries to trip the man but changes his mind. He then feels guilty when an old woman throws her bag across and the man falls.