Reader Response

M. Annunziato

Invisible Man



The Invisible Man chapters 13-21 is a very interesting section of this novel. In this section the narrator joins a group that he knows almost nothing about with almost no hesitation; he does wait maybe a day to call his contact, Brother Jack, but this is a very miniscule amount of time considering what the group plans on doing with him. This group is the Brotherhood, an organization that claims to help be the voice of people who have been stripped of their heritage. When I first read this it seemed like a group that would beneift everyone: giving the narrator a steady job doing what he loved to do while helping out people that have been oppressed and put down by society. As we get to see the Brotherhood more and more we eventually realize that they are simply using the narrator as a tool; he is black so people under oppression will relate more with him than a white person. I find it odd that the narrator, who is not a dumb person, doesn't pick up on this from even the very beginning when someone asks if he's "black enough" suggesting that in order for him to be effective his skin needs to be as dark as possible.
Ralph Ellison has masterfully crafted this book: it is easy to read, easy to understand, interesting, and enjoyable. In one scene where the narrator is trying to dispose of the shattered remains of a bank to no avail it forshadows that something else will be stuck with him and that problems will persist in the future. He skillfully manages to insert events that the reader wouldn't assume would happen such as when he sleeps with the white woman who has been neglected.
Eventually, within these pages, the narrator finds himself at a much higher role in the Brotherhood and of much more importance as he becomes known around the area through his speeches. One of the first speeches he gives that helps put him in this position of power is when he gives a freeform speech after forgetting all that he had prepared because of the blinding lights on the stage. This speech happened to focus on blindness and how everyone needed to rise up and get back what belonged to them. This was peculiar because the narrator is not only literally blinded by the lights but also figuratively as he follows the ideology of the Brotherhood blindly without really ever second guessing it or even thinking too much about it.
Overall this book has been very captivating and interesting so far leaving me looking forward to continuing on in the story.