Study Questions & Essay Topics
Study Questions
1. Compare and
contrast the ideologies of the Brotherhood and the college. How
does each ideology breed blindness and invisibility? What conflicts
do they cause for the narrator?
The college’s ideology is based on the ideas
of Booker T. Washington, who is represented by the figure of the
Founder; through a near-religious devotion to the legend of the
Founder’s life, students at the college are taught to work hard
and seek economic advancement while not clamoring for equal rights
or equal treatment from whites. The college encourages students
to reject black culture to the extent that it seems ignorant and
rural, and to pattern their behavior on the white middle class.
The Brotherhood adheres to an ideology based on that of American
communist groups in the 1930s, a sort of authoritarian
socialism that relies on a Marxist theory of history—which holds
that those of lower social status must submit themselves to the
unavoidable class struggles on the path to equality. The Brotherhood
thus prizes clinical, scientific exposition over the sort of emotional
appeal on behalf of the individual that the narrator makes after
Tod Clifton’s death.
The ideology of the college limits the narrator’s identity
in that it forces him to reject the black culture that shaped his
early identity and forces him to accept a position of inherent inferiority
to whites. The ideology of the Brotherhood limits the narrator’s
identity in that it requires blind adherence to the collective attitude
of the organization and allows no room for individual thought, expression,
or action—the very things that the narrator craves. By limiting
the narrator’s identity, these ideologies effectively render him
invisible, as they force him to bury his real self beneath the roles
that those around him require him to play.
2. Who is Rinehart?
What does he represent? What does he mean to the narrator?
Rinehart is a mystery and a source of deep
ambiguity in Invisible Man. He never appears in the novel, and the
narrator only learns of his existence when other people mistake
him for Rinehart while he is in disguise. Rinehart seems to be all
things to all people—pimp, bookie, and preacher, among other things.
Ultimately, Rinehart is an extremely surreal figure of Ellison’s
creation, designed not to be realistic or believable but rather
unsettling and confusing. Rinehart represents a protean conception
of identity—the idea that a person’s identity can change completely
depending on where one is and with whom one interacts, an extreme
version of the narrator’s conundrum throughout the novel. At first,
the narrator feels that Rinehart’s adaptability enables a kind of
freedom, but he quickly realizes that Rinehart’s formlessness also
represents a complete loss of individual selfhood. In the end, the
liquidity of Rinehart’s identity is one of the forces that compel
the narrator to discover his own more solid identity.
3. What is
the role of treachery in the novel? Who betrays whom? How does treachery
relate to the motifs of blindness and invisibility?
The two major betrayals in the novel are
the narrator’s betrayals at the hands of the college (in the figure
of Dr. Bledsoe) and the Brotherhood (in the figure of Brother Jack).
Bledsoe poses as a figure representing the advancement of black
Americans through education. In reality, however, he deliberately
subordinates himself to whites and says that he would see every
black man in America lynched before giving up his power. That he
sends the narrator away with letters of supposed recommendation
that, in reality, explicitly criticize the narrator demonstrates
his objectionable desire to suppress black identity. The members
of the Brotherhood betray the narrator in a number of insidious
ways, ranging from curtailing his individuality to turning their
backs on the plight of the poor blacks in Harlem. Jack, specifically,
betrays the narrator by posing as a compassionate and helpful friend
while secretly harboring racist prejudice against him and using
him as a tool for the advancement of the Brotherhood’s ends.
This sort of treachery generally contributes to the novel’s
creation of a bewildering, malevolent world in which an unexpected blow
can come at any time, reinforcing the novel’s characterization of
the social effects of racial prejudice. Treachery also reinforces
the ideas of blindness and invisibility, because any betrayal is
essentially a sign that the betrayer willfully refuses to see his
victim. Additionally, the novel’s betrayals function through deceit
and secrecy—for the most part, they are invisible, and the narrator
is blind to them until it is too late.
Suggested Essay Topics
1. How does the division between
how the narrator perceives himself and how others perceive him relate
to the motifs of blindness and invisibility? Consider the role of
racial stereotypes in the novel.
2. How does the narrator’s briefcase
encapsulate his history? Consider the contents of the briefcase.
Consider also the dream that he has about the briefcase after the
“battle royal.” How does the briefcase relate to the narrator’s
position as a fugitive? What might the briefcase tell us about the
narrator’s identity?
3. What does the extended metaphor
of dolls (the Sambo doll, for example) mean? What do they say about the power of racial stereotypes?
4. What does the veteran mean
when he tells the narrator, “Be your own father”? What is the role
of fathers or father figures in the novel? Think about the narrator’s
accusation that Jack wants to be the “great white father” and the
description of the Founder’s statue.
5. How does Ellison use irony
to underline the difference between surface appearances and what
lies beneath them? Consider Ellison’s literary treatment of Reverend
Barbee as one example. What are other examples?
6. What is the relationship
between individual identity and community identity? Is it possible
to remain true to both? Must the two always conflict? How does the
narrator fail or succeed to assert his individuality amid communities
such as the college, the Brotherhood, and Harlem?
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