The entirety of Invisible Man focuses on the psychological and moral development of the unnamed narrator, which makes him the novel’s protagonist. The narrator reflects on his life from his present situation, removed from society in an underground lair. He tells his story in part to make sense of his experiences and the confusion they have caused him. As a Black man living in a country still pervaded by anti-Black racism, the narrator struggles to comprehend his position in society. He also struggles to understand his own identity. He strives for equality of opportunity and the power of self-determination. Above all, he desires for others to see him in his full complexity. But the blindness of others in his society undermines these desires. Others fail to look beyond his skin color and hence cannot see who he really is. Since the narrator has examined himself through other people’s eyes, he too has long failed to see who he really is. Unseen in these ways, the narrator feels invisible. By the end, however, the narrator reconciles himself to his status as an “invisible man.” He decides to return to his troubling and divided society, hoping to transform it.

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