Invisible Man
Chapter Eleven
The narrator is faintly aware of what goes on around him. He discovers that he is in the hospital where some people, nurses, and doctors, surround him. These people are discussing his treatment and appears they are experimenting on him.
He later realizes that he is on an operating table but in a place where he is being observed. They are considering the severity of the injury and whether he can be discharged or not. They are trying to get information from him but cannot speak as he is feeling pain.
The narrator can now hear them clearly. One of them suggests that more current should be added and the narrator feels it in his body. He feels the taste of blood in his mouth and his body shakes.
They then comment that black people have rhythm when they dance. One man asks for his name and he cannot even remember who he is or who his mother is. They ask him who Buckeye the Rabbit is and he remembers the children’s song.
The doctors and nurses later leave him and the narrator thinks of leaving but he thinks it will be useless since he doesn’t even know how to save himself. He later discovers that he is in the factory hospital when he sees a wall being pulled down.
The narrator is a little bit fine now and the doctors and nurses are happy that the experiment is successful. They now refer him to a man named Drexel who says they are going to discharge the narrator.
However, the narrator is confused about whether he is being discharged from the hospital or the factory because he doesn’t know how he is going to survive.
He learned that the factory workers are insured so he doesn’t need to pay for the treatment. He is also not sure whether the physicians are really doctors or factory workers. He later asks Drexel whether he knows Mr. Norton and Bledsoe. Drexel does not know any of them.
The narrator leaves and discovers that he is no longer himself and that the words he is using are not even his own. He feels as if he is acting a script as he is becoming philosophical and no longer afraid.
Chapter Twelve
When the narrator comes out of the subway on Lennox Avenue, he discovers that he is weak and he is falling. Some people come to his aid. One of them is a dark woman named Mary Rambo who offers to take him to her house nearby to take care of him. Ralston also assists in getting the narrator to Mary’s place.
The narrator wakes up at 10 p.m. and eats the hot soup prepared for him by Mary. He is engaged in conversation with Mary and tells her that he has been sick and just coming out of the hospital.
He also tells her that he is in New York to work for him to go to school, but now planning to do a different thing. Mary then advises the narrator to do whatever will benefit the black since he is from the South. She also advises further that he should not corrupt himself. She offers to give out a room to him for rent in her apartment.
When the narrator gets to the Men’s House, he realizes that he needs to pack out of the place because of the hostility he is experiencing from the people there. He feels alienated by the people. He finds the place inconvenient for him again. He concludes to move to Mary’s apartment. He pays Mary with the compensation given to him at Liberty Paints.
He likes and enjoys his new place and Mary to him is more than a friend because of the useful advice she gives to her. She advises him to get back to his feet and look for something to do. The only thing he doesn’t like about her is that she talks too much.
The narrator is out looking for work for months and if he is not out looking for a job, he will be in his room reading. He now becomes frustrated that he ruminates over how he comes to that situation. His thoughts also go to Bledsoe and Emerson, this vexes him a lot but he makes sure he controls himself. Winter gradually sets in.