Invisible Man
Chapter Five
The narrator is now at the chapel amid other students. Dr. Bledsoe is standing in front with some of the guests which include one black man named Reverend Homer A. Barber and some founders. The narrator wonders how Dr. Bledsoe, who is a black man, pats white men on the back.
He then remembers how he found it difficult to touch Mr. Norton. He then concludes that Dr. Bledsoe is the only black man who can touch white men without being a barber or nurse.
The school choir performs after which the ugly black man, Reverend Homer from Chicago gives a speech. When he gets to the narration of the last days of Founder’s life, where Reverend Homer and Dr. Bledsoe are both present, the entire chapel is silent. He tells them that his spirits survive in the school’s students and Dr. Bledsoe, the school president.
The chapel is still silent when Reverend Homer Barber finishes. The narrator claims he sees the man’s vision and becomes even more depressed about what he believes to be his impending expulsion. It is when Reverend Homer Barber is helped to his seat that the narrator knows that the man is blind.
Dr. Bledsoe then leads the congregation in a song of hope. The orchestra excerpt is taken from Dvorak’s New World Symphony with “Swing Low Chariot” in it. This reminds the narrator of his mother and grandfather. He leaves before the end of the program.
The narrator goes to the administrative building to meet Dr. Bledsoe. The program has already ended and he hears people coming out of the chapel. He is now worried that Reverend Homer’s speech will make Dr. Bledsoe be tougher on him. He prepares his mind on what to do when expelled.
Chapter Six
The conversation between the people in Reverend Homer’s speech that the narrator hears scares him from going into Dr. Bledsoe’s office again but summons the courage to go in.
When he gets to the office, Dr. Bledsoe appears friendly to the narrator initially, this allays his fears until he attacks him, wanting to know who the vet is or who asked the narrator to take Mr. Norton to Trueblood’s area.
The narrator then defends himself that he only followed Mr. Norton’s directives. With this response, Dr. Bledsoe is surprised that the narrator does not lie as the only way to please a white man is to tell lies.
Eventually, the narrator is expelled from the school and he protests, saying that he will tell Mr. Norton about his expulsion.
This response amuses Dr. Bledsoe who calls back the narrator and educates him that the school is not run by the black or white. He also tells him how influential he is. He then tells him to tell Dr. Bledsoe as the whites only believe what he tells them.
He tells the narrator further that he “act the nigger” to get to the position of authority he is ready to do anything to retain his post even if it costs him to hang every black person.
The narrator is shocked to hear this from the president of the college who is a black man. Dr. Bledsoe then tells the narrator that he knows his thoughts about his hurt pride and what the people at home will think. He says he likes his fighting potential.
He advises him to go to New York for the summer and make money to return for the new school year. He promises to get him in touch with some of the school’s friends in the North and orders him to leave within two days.
The narrator leaves the office and decides to leave on the second day. He has fifty dollars on him to settle himself down in New York. He goes to Dr. Bledsoe’s office the following morning to tell him that he is ready to leave.
He then asks for the letters and the secretary gives him seven letters that are sealed with the instruction from Dr. Bledsoe that he should not open the letters and that the letters are to help him secure a job. The letters are sealed and well-addressed. The narrator looks for Mr. Norton’s name on the letters, but it’s not there.