It's all coming together


     I can feel the narrator evolving, and I think you can to. In class we mentioned how the prologue narrator is beginning to shine through. This is especially in the scene with brother Tobitt and Brother Jack. In past scenes where his reality is contradicted, he doesn’t confront the people in charge, instead he tended to grow angry at himself for not expecting something wrong. Although he might’ve questioned Bledsoe and Emerson jr. he kept his thoughts internal. With Brother jack, the narrator asks directly “…isn’t the shooting of an unarmed man of more importsnce politically than the fact that he sold obscene dolls?” A charged question to Brother Jack is more than looking for an answer, the narrator is publicly challenging Jack’s motives. Jack goes a step further when he later starts to make jokes.
     It’s interesting that the idea of humor as a tool is brought up again. I remember many people noticing that the vet reminded them of the prologue narrator. Back when we talked about the vet we talked a lot about his use of humor to go against Mr. Norton (more what Mr. Norton stood for). As the narrator starts to free his mind he is becoming more like the vet and in this case Jack is the opposing force; the Mr. Norton if you will.
     Thinking about different metaphors reminds me of the statue that we saw early on in the narrator’s college experience. Every time the narrator is “disillusioned” I ask myself if the veil is taken off or covers him more. For the most part it seemed like every time he faced reality the veil came off a little more, bu something was different about this time. It seemed like this time, the narrator is letting brother Jack cover his face with the viel, but like with the blindfold in the battle royale scene, the narrator can see more than he lets on. All of that comes back to the wise message of the grandfather: “Live with your head in the lion’s mouth.”

Comments

  1. Minji ChoiOctober 5, 2019 at 4:44 PM

    I agree that this scene was definitely different from others of the same kind earlier in the book. The narrator is no longer holding anything back. He has newfound wisdom but he is also composed and clever in the way that he conveys his thoughts. This scene was a big step towards the narrator we see in the prologue, both in the things he says and the way he says it.

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  2. Adit's BolgOctober 5, 2019 at 6:15 PM

    I like that you talked about the power of humor. As discussed in class, the greatest way to undermine power is to laugh at it. It's a reoccurring theme in Invisible Man. I also agree in that the narrator made a different sort of evolution in this part of the book. It's almost his epiphany as he realizes the power of deception. He manipulates the world using his own veil. Only this time, it doesn't stop him from seeing others, but others from seeing him.

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  3. Mayahuel MalikOctober 8, 2019 at 9:48 PM

    I agree with the idea of the narrators evolution. In this scene it felt that he was able to take control of the situation much more than in any other scene of the book, and he was less afraid to voice his true opinions. He has been 'wronged' enough times to see the brotherhoods ulterior motives, and is able to combat them with his own power move of laughter. As we have seen throughout the book, laughter can be very subversive and this scene is a great example of the narrator using that to his advantage, finally being able to take control for once, instead of just following or 'running'.

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