Invisible Man
Chapter Thirteen
The narrator is inside his room agitated by the various problems disturbing him. He tries to read but his mind goes back to the problems. With these problems in his mind, he leaves the house. As he is going, he perceives the scent of baked yam. He buys one and he is given butter on top of it. This also reminds him of home.
The yam vendor responds that she observes that the narrator likes yam and that he is from South Carolina. He buys two more yams with butter on top. He says yam is his birthmark and repeats a new motor, I yam what I am.”
As he goes further down the street, he stumbles on a commotion where a black couple is being evicted from their apartment. Their furniture and other belongings are being moved out by an agent and some people.
Some of their belongings are thrown out onto the icy street and the old woman is crying ceaselessly. She wants to go inside the house and pray, but the white man doesn’t allow her in. The crowd even shouts to let her go inside.
The couple tries to force their way in and the woman falls backward. Some people in the crowd like the narrator are already agitated. Some of them say those paddies should be dealt with seriously.
The response from the crowd even jeers the narrator into action that he doesn’t know when he begins giving a speech. The crowd is ready to attack the whites, but one of them brings out a pistol. The narrator starts his speech by admonishing the people to be law-abiding as blacks are portrayed to be.
The subject matter of his speech is on the ejected people. He says the man, Mr. Provo, is eighty-five years of age and all his belongings are thrown out. The speech does motivate the crowd into action by rushing the white men. The narrator then leads the remaining crowd in packing in the belongings of the ejected black couple.
The police later arrive to maintain orderliness in the area. The police have already sighted the narrator. He then looks for means of escaping police arrest. It is a white woman who calls the narrator “brother” and tells him to take the top of the roof to the end of the block.
He runs along the rooftop and observes that a man is following him. He initially thinks the man is police but wonders why he didn’t shoot him. The narrator eventually stops and faces the man pursuing him. The man is a white man named Brother Jack.
He happens to be a leader of a Brotherhood. It is the speech delivered by the narrator that attracted him to the narrator. He congratulates him for the motivational speech he presented and invites him for coffee and cake and the narrator accepts the invitation.
The narrator is offered a job delivering speeches for the Brotherhood. Brother Jack explains that the task might be risky but it is part of the jobs of the Brotherhood.
He then asks the narrator why he stood for the old couple. He responds that the case reminds him of Pius, his friend down South who jokes a lot and they are more or less a relative. Brother Jack gives his contact address to the narrator.
The narrator is worried about the Provo, the new appointment given to him by Brother Jack and even Mary amid the cold night.
Chapter Fourteen
The odor of Mary’s cabbage is always a reminder of the narrator as a child. It also has effects on him as it changes his mind, convincing him that he can’t reject the offer of the job.
He suspects that Mary needs money which is why she has been cooking cabbage for the third time in the week. So, he must find a means of settling her for the rent.
He calls Brother Jack and they agree to meet on Lennox Avenue. At Lennox Avenue, he is asked to get into a car with Brother Jack and other men. They drive to a house that has the inscription “Chthonian” written in front of it.
A woman named Emma welcomes them at the door and the narrator is surprised by the way the woman looks at him. She looks at him differently from the way white women do look at him. She offers them drinks on the order of Brother Jack.
Brother Jack then welcomes the narrator and praises his speaking prowess in the presence of others. He then expatiates on the Brotherhood explaining the mission of the group.
He says that the Brotherhood is made up of all races and their mission is to work towards creating a better world for the oppressed in the society without minding the race or sex. The group serves as the voice for the voiceless.
He says the narrator is going to be given some books to read for him to understand the Brotherhood better.
The narrator then asks him about his duties in the Brotherhood. Brother Jack then compares him with Booker T. Washington. He says Booker T. Washington resurrected this morning when the narrator made his speech at Harlem.
He says the Brotherhood was impressed with the way he made the speech that resulted in the revolution. He says they need more of that from him. He advises him further that he needs not to mix with anybody outside the Brotherhood, even should not have contact with his family because the group has many enemies.
Brother Jack asks the narrator about his living conditions and says that the Brotherhood will find new accommodation for him. Emma gives the narrator three hundred dollars to settle himself; pays his debts and buys himself new clothes. Brother Jack says he will be earning sixty dollars a week. They then toast with drinks served to them by Emma.
They all move to another large room where the narrator is introduced to other members by his new name. They are in different groups under the Brotherhood while some are playing music. He is asked whether he knows all the leaders in the Harlem community, and he pretends that he knows them.
The man that asks him says they will have to work with them in the future. A broad man asks him to sing because he likes the way black people sing. Brother Jack responds that the narrator doesn’t sing. The short man insists that the narrator should sing and he is taken away from the place on the order of Brother Jack and Brother Jack follows them.
The narrator is drunk now and a woman comes in and apologizes on behalf of the short man. Emma then comes forward and challenges the narrator to dance. He leads the lady towards the floor where he dances and has a lot of drinks.
He leaves for his house by 5 a.m. When he gets home, Mary has changed his bed linen. He decides to do away with some of his clothes including his hat which is faded for the new ones.
He prepares to pack out of the house the following day but doesn’t know how he will tell Mary about his leaving because the woman has been very good to him. He decides to put the money for the rent in an envelope and put it where she will see it and leave without telling her. He casts his mind back to his experiences with the Brotherhood.