Please post your responses to the following question below. Use refrences to Invisible Man and "Allegory of the Cave" where applicable. Make sure that you answer all parts of the prompt. Posts will be graded after class on Friday. No late posts will be accepted.
Throughout the text of Invisible Man we see that the narrator continues to oscilate between his own reality and the reality of society. This text complicates the idea of society because there are two socities within the text, African American society and White society. There are, of course, multiple socities within these larger socities as well - complicating this overall question. However, according to Plato's allegory, which society that we have seen within the pages of our novel is the one more responsible for keeping the Invisible Man within the cave and constricting his vision? Has the Invisible Man broken free from this bondage? Does he think that he has? How does our role as readers in this text further this question.
As you answer, make sure that your response is your own. Do not submit something similar to a previous post or it will not be considered for credit. Come up with an argument and prove it.
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White society is constricting the narrator’s vision. Though he was able to escape the bondage of the Jim Crow South, white society still controls him in the North in other ways. The Brotherhood gave him a completely new identity. They gave him a new name, new apartment, new clothes, and new education. They have shaped him in their perception of what he must be in order to fit their reality. They indoctrinated him with their “ideology” so he has completely lost himself in his white identity. The only time the Invisible Man broke free from his bondage was when he gave his very first speech as a Brother. It was so full of passion and emotion that the Brothers recognized that he reverted to his African American identity. This concerned the Brothers since it wasn’t in accordance with their reality. They then sent him to Brother Hambro who gave him his training in their “scientific method.” However, the Invisible Man believes that he has broken free of the bondage of white society. He believes that he is the opposite of what his perception of white society wants since he is in a position of power in an influential political organization. He likens himself to Frederick Douglass who also went north and acquired a new identity. However, Douglass stayed true to his African American identity while the Invisible Man has not. Our role as readers complicates this question because, according to Plato, our perceptions determine our realities. What I just wrote may differ from what others write because their interpretation of the text and the question may be different. This is merely my perspective on what is happening in the text. It is my truth.
The white society determines what IM perceives as the truth, seen in battle royal scene. He is on the verge of breaking through but is ironically still controlled by the Brotherhood which should be giving him more power, and although sometimes it seems like he thinks he’s broken through, usually in his speeches, he thinks about how he could be used as a “natural resource” for the purpose of the Brotherhood, showing how he is still trapped in the cave by white society, conformity, and control. His speeches are like the freed prisoner trying to inform the still chained prisoners, but since he is not completely freed from his own chains he is on the verge of being kept in the dark again. The IM is empowered by being able to speak, but if he does not do it the right way (the white way) he will lose that privilege, like the freed prisoner being put to death if attempting to lead someone out of the cave. As readers we know that his “training” and work for the Brotherhood only contributes to his bondage in the cave of white society, he can speak to inform his fellow prisoners but only how the Brotherhood wants him to, seen in chapter 16.
The white society is the one responsible for keeping the Invisible Man within the cave and constricting his vision. The white society is responsible because they are the powerful society in this time period and are the ones who continuously degrade the African-American race. We see these degrading attempts in the Battle of Royal, where the blacks are forced to fight one another, jump on an electrified rug for coins, and watch a naked WHITE woman prance throughout the ring without touching her. During the first half of the book we see the Invisible Man continue to struggle with the white society. The Invisible Man greatly wanted to be accepted by the white people which he expressed in his Battle of Royal speech, and his care/affection for Mr. Norton. Since the Invisible Man has made his journey to New York, readers now see him as different character. Through the brotherhood, he continues to give his speeches attempting to bring the African-American community together as a family. The Invisible Man is lost about his own identity but also believes that he has broken away from the white society. In his speech given in chapter 16, the IM is able to reference his own heritage and speak to his own "people" for acceptance, unlike chapter 1 where he wanted acceptance from the white people. As readers, it is our job to continue to help the IM search for his identity because we can see and analyze small things that the IM cannot see himself.
The narrator's vision is being restricted by the Southern white society. Because the narrator spent most of his life growing up in the South, he doesn't have any experience with the society of the North, which is clearly evident when the narrator first arrives in New York. When he has his encounter with Brother Jack and his subsequent joining of the Brotherhood, he has his first look at the light. However, this sudden burst of light in his life leaves him blind, something that is strongly hinted at while he delivers his speech, with the boxer years ago being blinded in his fight, which parralls the narrator's fight against the oppression from white society. The Brotherhood has blinded the narrator, and tricked him into thinking he now has a place in which he belongs, when really he is a mere pawn in their own fights. Ironically, while the narrator now has experienced the light, it is this very light that will keep him in the dark. This darkness is the truth, the truth that no matter what he does, he is in the control of the Southern whites that wish he be restricted. The narrator has been tricked into thinking he is in control, when really he has fallen victim to the illusion. The illusion that Southern white society has created where there is the appearance of unrestricted freedom. However, the narrator is being watched all the time, as evident from Dr. Bledsoe, who gave the narrator the hope of education, only to actually send word to the white's up North that the narrator must be kept running, as to keep him from reaching the finish line. This really pushed the narrator into the cave. Once he falls back into the cave, the narrator will continue to try to move forward, not realizing that he has nowhere to go. His blindness from his brief experience in the light will lead him to run in a never ending cycle, much like a hamster in a wheel.
Nicole Moore 1B
The problem with the invisible man is that the white society is the civilization that is keeping him in the dark. Every time that the reader thinks that he is going to escape from the grasp of the whites, he just fall back into there grasp. The main problem of the Invisible Man is that he thinks that the white society and culture is supreme, and that is blocking him from seeing reality or the truth. The Invisible Man thinks that he has broken free from his white society bondage but in reality he has not. He has only broken free one main time which was when he gave his speech to the black community in the fighting ring. Because his speech was spontaneous and off the top of his head he was able to say what he really felt and thought about the black community and what they need to do. However right after his speech The Brotherhood, went and talked with him and told him that they did not like his speech, and because he wants to please The Brotherhood and the white people in the group he understands that he can not do that anymore and is back in the grasp of the white society. In the Invisible Man we as readers see they black reality, the white reality, and we also put our own reality into the story when we read it so I think that by reading the book it changed my perspective on white and n\black society.
Though the Invisible Man believes the African American society is that which is holding him back or constructing his vision, the audience understands that it is the white society as a whole that's keeping him in the dark. They aren't allowing him to find his true identity, as seen by the Brotherhood. They created an identity for him rather than allowing him to find it for himself. Not allowing him to give his opinions during speeches and restricting his passionate emotions through which they believed needed to be scientific. And yet even after the invisible man expresses an anger with their constriction, he still goes about following their orders by going to Brother Hambro and rejecting Ras the Exhorter's argument. The argument that we as the audience knows is correct; the invisible man giving up himself to be accepted as a white man in turn becoming one and losing his identity. The IM does truly believe he has been freed because of his acceptance into the Brotherhood yet as readers we see that Brotherhood hasn't actually accepted him as an African American. Instead, they have tried to assimilate him to the white race.
Julia Larson 1B
In Invisible Man, the narrator's vision is being constricted by both white and black society. The whites, by keeping blacks chained to the wall, are the people who initially lower the veil over blacks' eyes. However, when the whites raise the veil, the blinded blacks continue to be blinded because they refuse to accept the newly revealed reality, the "truth". The prisoners are so busy being "distracted in the struggle for power" (Plato 6), that they do not focus on the actual cause of their oppression: whites. The Invisible Man suffers from this "bondage" for a large portion of the novel, fighting against blacks such as the Battle Royal fighters, Dr. Bledsoe, and Lucius Brockway. However, by the time the Invisible Man delivers his speech at the eviction, and similarly in the athletics building, he believes that he is no longer fighting against blacks and is instead uniting with them against the whites. He illustrates this by putting "us" (blacks) against "them" (whites), and repeating this specific pronoun usage throughout his speech. Despite his work with the Brotherhood, which is mostly white, he does this only to better blacks' position in society and begins to worry less about pleasing whites. This interpretation obviously differs from many other readers' interpretations, which furthers the question dealing with his breaking free of the whites' bondage.
While white society both in the North and South perpetuated the Invisible Man's lack of self-identification and vision, the commonality shared by each individual that contributed to the IM's lack of vision transcends just race. Those in the Invisible Man's life who constrict his vision are always those *seen* by society. Plato's allegory, in this case, doesn't hold entirely true. While the Invisible Man is being held captive by his aspirations to maintain social glory - aspirations instilled within the narrator by the successful and celebrated individuals around him - his captors have not been truly enlightened. Yes, the Invisible Man has been shown both Harlem and Harlem's spotlight, but he has not yet seen Socrates' equivalent of reality. Though elevated above the "cave" and seen by society, the narrator remains blinded by the light of recognition - incognizant of the "shadow" once cast upon him by those refusing to celebrate his (and his race's) innate abilities. 0nly by descending into the cave - into the depths of invisibility - will the light of truth be revealed to him. However, during his first speech as a member of the brotherhood, the narrator does liberate himself temporarily. His willingness to conform to the brotherhood's "vision" for his future as an orator largely undermines his brief release, demonstrating that the Invisible Man is being held captive within the society to which he fled. As readers, we are privileged with the ability to see aspects of the narrator's reality unseen to the narrator himself; however, as a product of an entirely different generation, my perspective on race relations is similarly privileged. For this reason, my opinion of the Invisible Man's perdicament is no more accurate than that of any other individual - black, white, esteemed, or undervalued.
--Tanner Lockhead
The black society has pleyed the major role in keeping the Invisible Man inside of Plato's cave. As you can see from his earlier experiences with Trueblood and how the intellectual black people at the university see him, you can tell that since he has been kicked out of that place of knowledge, and since he tarnished the image of the black society by taking Mr. Norton to the Golden Day among other places, he has been reduced to the status of inferior compared to educated blacks just like Trueblood was. The blacks are trying to constrict his vision because they do not want him to influence more white people the same way he influenced Mr. Norton.
The Invisible Man has not really broken through this bondage. He has started giving speeches and he uses his words to give the ideas of the Brotherhood to the masses. He is being used as a puppet by the brotherhood, which is controlled by white people. In this way the influence keeping him in the cave has shifted from where it was earlier in the book. However, he is under the impression that he is now a great leader among the black people while all of his speeches are being tailored by the Brotherhood.
By being a reader we our entitled to our own opinion of what the writer meant in his or her writing. This is similar to what I believe Plato was hinting at in his allegory in that that we all have our own realities so we are going to question things we do not see as truths.
Flynn Marron just posted the comment above
The white society is responsible for trapping of the invisible man within the cave and altering his perception of identity and truth. While he was in the south, he desperately wanted to conform to the white men's ideology. They had brainwashed him to believe that being white was the only way to survive. He also heard this from his African American counterparts. Dr. Bledsoe , earlier in the novel, told him that the only way to survive is to act white and overpower African Americans in the same way white people do. He himself wanted to be white, which he expresses in the Battle Royal speech. Once the the IM moved to the nort, he began to slowly break away from the idea of being "white" and he faced a new challenge. The IM must decide what identity he wanted to associate himself with. Does he continue to conform to the white society or adopt a new-found identity. As readers we slowly see his change from southern white to African American. In his speech to the crowd in chapter 16, the IM used words like "we" and "us"; claiming the African American race. The IM believes that he is slowly breaking this bondage. At the end of chapter 16, he realizes that he is starting to see the bigger picture. He isn't focused on the little things that people say to him. He is starting to develop a mind of his own. As readers we complicate this question of whether he is changing. What we see as change may not actually be change. Our truth is based on our perception and if we say that he is changing, what is to say that our perception is blinded by an outside force and our truth isn't really the truth.
-Seyi G
Initially in Invisible Man white society has been a prominent force in restricting the vision of the Invisible Man. Through blindfolds in the battle royal he and the other African-Americans were blinded from the cruelty of the white society and instead focused on fighting against each other. When the Invisible Man moves to the north and joins the Brotherhood he is still blinded and restricted by white society. The Brotherhood gives him a new identity, one that is subservient to their demands.
In Plato’s allegory an instructor tells the freed man that the shadows he new as reality were only allusions, a fantasy. This can be compared to the Vet who calls the Invisible Man a mechanical man, one who goes along with white society and is indeed faced with a fantasy: his lower role in their society.
After the Invisible Mans arena speech Brother Jack tells him, “You will have freedom of action – and you will be under strict discipline to the committee” (360). He claims that he will have a sense of freedom under the power of the Brotherhood, however this freedom is only the freedom that they design for him. In the Brotherhood he is not complimented for his individuality, but rather his identity as a leader figure. Overall the Invisible Man has not broken free from white society’s control, he believes that the Brotherhood is helping him advance as an oratory leader, yet he has not broken from the shadows of the cave and seen reality, still acting like a mechanical man.
As readers we understand the reality that he is still under white society’s bondage, that even though he has found advancement he is still restricted and controlled. In a way we are like the instructor from the cave or the vet, realizing the allusion in the shadows. He as a character may have broken free from the cave (the south) but has yet to adjust to the reality of his continued oppression.
-Meg Bittle
The white society is the one that is constricting the Invisible Man's vision. A few examples of this are when the Invisible Man is physically blinded (blindfolded) during the battle royal and immediately after his speech during the battle royal when he is blinded ideologically. At the battle royal when he is given the scholarship to the college, he becomes obsessed with the idea of being like the whites and basically representing them in the school instead of representing himself. Currently the Invisible Man has not completely broken free from his bondage, he has however had one moment and a few lapses of breaking free. That moment that he broke free when he made his first unplanned speech on the streets was when he was entirely himself and did what he did based on an involuntary impulse. And at one point the Invisible Man had a lapse of breaking free when he became extremely mad and began to simply walk down the street and starting involuntarily speaking and makes mini speeches. The Invisible Man also thinks that he has broken free, even though he has not. He believes this because he is becoming successful, and he believes that the white society does not want him to have that power so he thinks he is defying them in a way. However, me being a reader does complicate this question because I am only one person who represents my own opinion and my opinion has been made off of knowing the Invisible Man's future because of the prologue. And my interpretation of the prologue may also be very different from other people's interpretation of the prologue which will also complicate this question further. And it is just like Plato would say, what we have come to believe will determine our truths on reality.
Evan.H
The white society as well as the black society is what is obstructing the invisible man's views of reality. He escaped the vulgar south because of the whites and yet it is still haunting him in the north. Using the metaphor of the veil, the whites with the abolition of slavery are introducing blacks to a new reality. Like the men in the caves the blacks are struggling to realize the real oppressors just like in the battle royal where the blacks are fighting each other rather than fighting the oppression. The Brotherhood is giving the narrator a newly found identity which is helping to reveal a different truth than though expressed through plato's cave analogy.
-Nico Posada
Contrary to the narrator's thoughts of a free northern atmosphere, the white society has continued to control his actions. Even at times in which it seems that the African American society is holding the Invisible Man back, we see these characters (like Bledsoe) depicted as a pawn to the white society in the times. When the narrator gets made to look like a fool at the battle royal, it was the white society. When the narrator is the subject of the joke to 'keep him running', it was the white society. Furthermore, when the Invisible Man is used as a vessel to talk to other African Americans, the white society is still controlling his words and his ideological background, shown through the Brotherhood and this displeasure at the narrators speech style.
So far in the text, the Invisible Man has not broken out of this bondage. Although the narrator, at times, feels free the omnipresent and controlling white society can always be seen. The narrator keeps many 'role models' in his sight but never realizes that his 'role models' are the successful whites that arent happy with him the way he is - instead they feel that they need to change the narrator for him to be 'usable'. Even in the latest section of the book, when the narrator is feeling the power of the position in the brotherhood that he holds, we can see the superficial nature of his position when he is told to focus on the defeat of Ras and his followers.
Our position as readers helps us to see things from a different perspective. While the narrator is unable to see that the Brotherhood is 'using' him and keeping him as a pawn that they know they can shape, the reader can easily see that the Brotherhood carries many negative aspects along with the positives that the narrator sees.
Alex Madill 1B
The readers play a role in answering this question because depending on how they define the "cave" that the Invisible Man (IM) is constricted to and what specific aspect of that cave they decide to focus on, they can come up with two very different answers that might even contradict each other. This is exactly Plato's point--one person's cave definition can be different from another's and still be true.
Applying this to the Invisible Man: IM believes that gaining acceptance in the white society will make him successful as a person and so this is IM's truth; this "truth" is also how I will define IM's "cave."
The Invisible Man is restricted to this cave by the white Brotherhood society. Before IM's first speech, the Brotherhood is showering the Invisible Man with approval for fighting the eviction of the old black couple. The Invisible Man is glad to have their praise: he willingly accepts a new identity and will make speeches on behalf of this society. Therefore, the Invisible Man is still trapped in the cave of wanting white approval. However, after his first speech, he starts to escape from his cave, for he is gaining acceptance from blacks and losing acceptance from the Brotherhood. Unfortunately, the Invisible Man himself is not ready to leave the cave. He accepts help from Brother Hambro to modify his speech to the Brotherhood's preference instead of his own.
This is because the Invisible Man defines his cave differently than me. He thinks his cave is his race because it prevents him from being successful in the white world. He believes that by being in the Brotherhood, he has broken out of his cave because now he is successful. However, until he accepts that the brotherhood is what is actually confining him, then he will always be trapped in my definition of his cave.
This also illustrates Plato's point on how truth varies from person to person depending on their experience. Additionally, it can serve as an example of how the reader affects the answer to this question. (IM and I each have a different definition of the cave.)
-Meagan Raviele
Although it seems that the Invisible Man is being held back primarily by the upper white society, he is greatly held back by the black society as well. The invisible man feels that he must remain loyal to his race; however he feels superior to them as well. When the Invisible Man tries to advance himself intellectually in society, he begins to question the sight of the black society, as does the escapee in Plato's "Allegory of the Cave". This question of what was the Invisible Man's reality obstructs his ideas of the truth. Since the Invisible Man is introduced to new ideas as he ascends in society, he begins to 'lose his vision.' Like this, in "Allegory of the Cave," the escapee is blinded as he sees the sun for the first time. Since it was his captors who introduced this blinding object to him, and since the captors are a metaphor for the white society, therefore the white society is who blinds the Invisible man: they blind him from reality. This is very similar to the Battle Royale scene because in the Battle Royale the Invisible Man is blinded by a white blindfold, and this obstructs his reality. He is not a part of the upper white society nor a member of the black society anymore. He hasn't broken his out of his bondage yet; his vision is as obstructed as it has ever been.
In a way, the Brotherhood is the key to his being stuck in his bondage, not able to break loose. Although the Invisible Man is associated with whites while in the brotherhood, there are still social classes within, and these keep him in his same position: at the bottom. As long as the Invisible Man is with the brotherhood, his vision will be obstructed. His vision is at its worst while he is in the brotherhood, because it is his halfway between the top of society and the bottom, and it is at the place where the ideas of both social class's converge. Until the Invisible Man is able to clearly identify himself with a specific social class, he will be able to see clearly according to that class's belief's.
Unlike the Invisible Man, we as readers have the ability to see the actions of all characters, creating dramatic irony. We can foresee what is to happen since the Invisible Man lives in cycles. however, since the Invisible man cannot see the actions of others, he believes that when he joined the brotherhood he broke out of bondage. As a reader, the brotherhood seems to be a negative influence on the Invisible Man, persuading him into conformation. The Invisible Man believes that the brotherhood is a positive influence, and this causes readers to wonder when will the Invisible Man will actually become aware of his identity, and what identity does he choose for himself?
The society that constricts the Invisible Man’s vision is the white society. They have been trying to keep him down throughout the novel and trying to keep him in “the cave”. The Invisible Man has been blinded both literally and metaphorically in the story, the blindfold at the battle royal is an example of the literal, the whites were physically blinding him and forcing him into a different reality, one that they control and one in which they force him to fight his own race. However the Invisible man does break free from his bondage in the cave after the battle royal when he goes to college, but as the Allegory of The Cave suggests “they remain in the upper world: but this must not be allowed; they must be made to descend again among the prisoners in the den.” This is exactly what Bledsoe and Mr. Norton do to him, they keep him down and keep him running. Now as the story continues and he meets Brother Jack, he is starting to break free from the bondage by his own doing, he realizes that what he has been living is not his reality but someone else’s. He is starting to recognize that the others in the cave are also blind to this reality and he is starting to see that he can help them reach the surface. He now knows that the people in the cave are also blinding each other, since they are chained to one another and they are trying to learn the shadows of a true reality to beat one another in contest, just like the battle royal, now he sees they must unite. However under all this progress is the possibility that the Brotherhood is simply using him, and this is where the cycle comes in, he will continue to be put in and taken out of the cave until he finds what his reality is. As readers we see what we think his reality should be however there can be many opinions of what that truly is, so until he sees it for himself we will continue to question it.
Nathan Cierpial
Alaina Bainbridge 1B
White society is primarily responsible for the Invisible Man’s restriction within “the cave” as well as the clouding of his vision. The Allegory of the Cave draws a parallel to The Invisible Man in the respect that they both deal with blindness, in order to understand this, one must relate the allegory to the text of The Invisible Man. In this scenario, the white men would be the ones who have chained the black men to the cave, forcing them into a meaningless and fallacious existence. In The Invisible Man, the concept of the veil illustrates this same idea; in essence, the white men are restricting the vision of the blacks, or, the prisoners, as it were. Because they are blinded by the white men, they cannot unite with one another to break free, just as the men in the cave cannot unite because they are chained to the stone. This constricting vision prevents the blacks from seeing the true enemy, the whites, and instead, forces them to see an alternate and false truth- that the whites are there to help them. Since the African Americans world is controlled by the white race, their perception of reality is that they are not only powerless, but also that the whites are acting on their behalf. Why else would the Invisible Man want so badly to be accepted by the whites? It is because his truth has led him to believe they are supreme. However, toward the middle of the book, the Invisible Man starts to break away from the chained wall which he has been tethered to. When he joins the brotherhood he becomes enveloped in a sense that he can change his own reality and possibly the reality of others. “For the first time, lying in the dark, I could glimpse the possibility of being more than a member of a race” (355). It is evident that the Invisible Man thinks he has broken free from the cave and that he “is forced into the presence of the sun…” (Plato, 286). However, upon further examination of this the narrators new found hope in his own existence, as readers, we begin to see that he, although unaware of it, is still in the cave. The narrator is, by his own words, “lying in the dark,” however, he talks about being able to see. This is a fundamental fallacy within his thoughts and from this, the reader comes to see, though dramatic irony, that he is still conforming to the false truth and that his eyes are still clouded and in the dark. He has not yet broken free from his bondage of the cave, and it would appear that the Brotherhood is keeping him attached to the cave walls. This is evident when Brother Hambro teaches the narrator the ‘proper’ way to make a speech, thus, crushing any hope the narrator may have previously had at finding his own truth and instead, just blindly following another.
Society during this time period has made the narrator question reality and had a major role on his identity issues. Not only do Whites tell him who he is, but also African Americans do not fail to remind him where he falls, at the lowest possible spot in society. The Invisible man wants acceptance from the white society and struggles hoping to get acknowledged for his education. After being put down countless times, the narrator returns to his need of activism while in New York. This leads him into the light of what he longs for rather than the shadows of what society tells him he is allowed to do. He begins to gain strength from his anger held inside and wants to make speeches once more. He refuses to be chained down and told what to believe like a prisoner from Plato's Cave. The invisible man at that moment steps out of the shadows society has forced upon him and decides to create his own.
-Maria Salazar 1-B
Hailey FitzGerald B1
The idea of what one sees and one "reality" is always compared to that of another persons "reality." The Invisible Man is only once person, not only is he a single human being but he is a black American who is surrounded by the society of the white Americans. While the men in the cave are only exposed to the shadows of objects, that is all they know, and that is all they have to believe. Who is on to tell them they are wrong? In reality they are not wrong (to themselves,) but to everyone else who has a whole different truth of what objects make up the shadows the men in the cave or considered different, and in most cases crazy. The invisible man has grown up in a black community which has been shaped and developed by the society of the White Americas. Within this exposure the White Americans have told all others who are not to their standards that to become successful, they must act like a white man. The invisible man has been shown that to become who you want to be you are not to be yourself. As he beings to grow and develope he wishes to become who is really is, he wants to be himself; he no longer see the shadows on the cave walls, but instead he wants to see the objects for what they really are. Growing up shows to the Invisible Man that order to be who you want to become you have to know who you are first. Yet, people push him down, the White Americans and the Brotherhood take away who is is, who is really is and changes it for their benefit. Because of this he believes his reality is the shadow on the wall, the Invisible Man is not the object that casts the shadow, but instead he is the shadow casted by the object. He is close minded, not by choice, but instead by what he is told is real.
Katie Hirsch 1B
Throughout the Invisible Man, the narrator has had a constant struggle when trying to develop and discover his purpose in life. He is entirely too reliant on others for his ideas and actions. He wants to speak for his people and wants to show equality, but it is those very people –the African Americans- that are restricting his actions and “constricting his vision”. He is stuck in the only thing he knows, which through society’s perception is to “act black”. He cannot be the person that he wants to be because he is black, and cannot change that, even though if he could It would help him to be more successful. In his opinion, he has broken free and is becoming his own man. However, in reality, he wont be able to truly break free with society as hostile and segregated as they are at the time in history. Our role as readers gives us the advantage of knowing how history plays out, letting us know that society doesn’t have a constant discriminatory-feel that the invisible man encounters throughout his life. It also gives us a better view of his actual improvement, as oppose to a bias view, like his own. We can see all of his struggles and mistakes and how things could have been different; as well as see that those mistakes are continuing, showing that he hasn’t broken free of the bondage.
This question pretty much sums up the huge amount irony that has been present throughout the entire book. The Invisible Man is absolutely sure that it is his race, and the black society, that is holding him back. He thinks that since he is a black man, he will never get where he wants to go. He thinks that his true inner identity is a powerful white man, which is why he thinks that the black society and his outside appearance are holding him back. However, we as readers can tell that what is really holding him back is the white society. They have been breaking him down throughout the entire book. Every time he thinks that he is getting ahead, he is really just being made fun of or ironically being degraded even more. By basically trying to become a white man, he is also progressively completely losing his identity as a person. The white society never lets him be who he really is, even though he thinks that they do, which is why it blinds him so much. For example, during his speech at the battle royal, he mentions "social equality," which is something that he truthfully desires. Then, when he sees how the men react to this, he immediately takes it back and says that he meant to say "social responsibility". He is then blinded by their apparent approval. The superintendent says that he is "a good, smart boy" and gives him the scholarship. He thinks that this means that he is being accepted by their society, when really they know the whole time that he's never going to get anywhere, they're just trying to "keep this nigger-boy running." Now, later in the book, he is being taken in by the Brotherhood, and they are basically trying to turn him into a white man. Again, he thinks that this is a good thing, and that he will finally be who he wants to be. What they're really doing is taking away his identity, and therefore constricting his vision of who he really is. If he had just accepted his origianl identity and stuck with the black society, he wouldn't be so lost right now. He would be allowed to state his true opinions and be who he really is and he would be accepted, not tricked or degraded. Sure, he would be "invisible" to the white society, but that wouldn't have ended up mattering anyway. It's better to have an identity, even if it's just to yourself, than to not have an identity at all. Why should we really care what other humans think of us, as long as we know who we are ourselves? This is the truth that the white society has completely blinded the Invisible Man from being able to see.
In The Invisible Man, the white society of the South is most responsible for keeping the narrator in the dark. Whites have figuratively chained him inside the physical and mental cave of the South, just as they literally chained his ancestors and the rest of his race in slavery. The tangible boundaries of the South are his bonds, and the racial attitude of the South is his cave. In chapter one, white men grant the narrator "a scholarship to the state college for Negroes" (Ellison 32), effectively chaining him to the wall inside the South. Here, he is shown that whites are superior than blacks, and that the best way to succeed in life as an African-American is to please the white folks. The Invisible Man takes these shadows and distortions of the truth to heart, making them his reality, much like the prisoners in Plato's allegory did with their own shadows.
However, the Invisible Man is freed from his bondage indirectly by the vet's actions at the Golden Day. The vet, who attempts to shine the true light of humanity onto the narrator and help him escape from the cave, only succeeds in breaking his chains. The vet is able to turn the Invisible Man around to "look towards the light" of the fire (Plato 1) and show him the truth of racial relationships. This is supported by the fact that the narrator meeting the vet and subsequently getting expelled from the college is a major turning point in the story. Despite his new freedom, the Invisible Man becomes angered and distressed. He feels that the vet has constricted his potential instead of freeing him to follow his goals and dreams. As readers, we know that his expulsion from college will ultimately benefit him, but the Invisible Man does not know that, creating dramatic irony.
Despite being released from his physical bondage of the South, the narrator is still trapped within the mental cave of the South. He still believes that the shadows of white supremacy are reality. It is not until he receives the lobotomy operation that he finally emerges from this cave. This is symbolized by him waking up to be blinded by the "bright third eye" of the doctor (Ellison 231). He is reborn into a new identity and philosophy. He begins to recognize the true reality that blacks and whites are equal and that whites shouldn't be able to treat African-Americans so inhumanely after witnessing the eviction of an old black couple (Ellison 267-279). At this point he is aware that he has broken free of his Southern chains, but at this exact spot he is bound by a new group of white people, the Brotherhood. This reversal of the Invisible Man's reality and society's reality is another example of dramatic irony. He now thinks that he is free when he has just been newly chained.
While we are omniscient readers, we do not know whether what we see or conclude is the truth or not. We may be the prisoners of Ellison's cave, being shown shadows of the true reality. As such, we can never know for certain if the Invisible Man breaks free from his bondage.
-Ben Chesnut
It is clear that the white society is responsible for keeping the Invisible Man in a proverbial cave. White society as a whole has been oppressive toward black society throughout history, causing this oppression to be the only thing the Invisible Man has ever known. This is the idea of being in a cave one's entire life. staring at a wall- one is simply used it and knows no different. We see the Invisible Man has not broken free. The white people have metaphorically forced him to stare at the cave wall. He has been forced to adhere to one idea and has grown to think of it as correct, like how one's eyes grow accustomed to the darkness. If darkness (lies) is the only thing the Invisible Man is ever exposed to, the light (truth, reality) seems foreign and wrong. He believes he has broken free but in actuality his false perception has caused him to see his bondage as freedom. As readers, we are able to see the entirety of the Invisible Man's situation and see things that he is unable to realize. -Cassidy Woodell
The white society is constricting his vision. The Invisible Man thought that by coming up North he would be bettering himself and breaking free of the African American stereotype. Instead he allowed himself to become corrupted. With his new found knowledge, oppurtunities and school, the invisible man did not better himself, instead he lost his identity. We as readers, and the wiser characters throughout the novel are able to see that he is losing himself more and more with every chapter; however, he is convinced that he is making a positive change in his life. His intentions may have been to become a better black man, but he is now more concerned with pleasing the enemy, The Whites.
-Tabria M.
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