Invisible Man

Intro Aleah, Linnette, Grant, The Boy Chapters (2-7)

Theme Sometimes when one is obedient towards others, it can be seen as failure to another, which may lead to the truth.

Thesis The experiences the Invisible Man(IM) had with Jim Trueblood and the way he complied to Mr. Norton's orders, show that Ellison believes that even when you're obedient, others may see it as failure, which can later reveal the truth.

Example # 1 "That's what I didn't understand. I done the worse thing a man could ever do in his family and instead of chasin' me out of the country, they gimme more help than they ever give any other colored man, no matter how good a nigguh he was."(Chapter 2, pg.67)

This is the prove that obedience can be seen as failure. Unknowingly Trueblood confirmed a stereotype of blacks that the white men wanted, so he got rewarded. Even Mr. Norton "Please take this and buy the children some toys for me...it was a hundred-dollar bill."(Chapter 2, pg.69) So What? #1

The IM takes orders from Mr. Norton, as he tells him that he is sick and needs whiskey. The IM feels that he HAS to fulfill this order so he takes Mr. Norton to the Golden Day to get him some whiskey. He ends up bringing him inside which later leads to a fight. "I wanted to tell him that Mr. Norton was much more than that, that he was a rich white man and in my charge; but the very idea..." (86) Example # 2

As the IM followed his order to get Mr. Norton some whiskey, he sees this came back to bite him in the butt. The IM knows that he's now on the line because he has gotten Mr. Norton in a fight. The IM is lost because he knows that he's obeying Mr. Norton, but he is trying to figure out why it's causing him to fail. So What? #2

IM meets with Doctor Bledsoe, and they discuss what happened between him and Mr. Norton. IM gets punished for the discussions he made when taking care of Norton, and Bledsoe kicks him out of school for it. IM feels like he shouldn't have obeyed and now he's a failure. "Reluncantly I sat, torn between anger and fascination, hating myself for obeying." (142) Example #3

IM finds himself sitting in Bledsoe's office getting scolded because he did what he was told. He comes to the realization that obeying people isn't going to get him anywhere in life. He gets kicked out of school for doing what he thought was right. Although the IM doesn't want to leave home, he understands that there's nothing he can do about it. So What? #3

The IM takes this situation as a learning experience and carries it on with him throughout his journey. This was a turning point for him in the story. The IM leaves home realizing that he the truth. Home is now a memorable place to him because it's the point at which he begins to actually see how things really are in life. So What? #3(cont.)

Example #4 "How had i come to this? I had kept unswervingly to the path placed before me, had tried to be exactly what I was expected to do- yet instead of winning the expected reward, here I was stumbling along, holding on desperately to one of my eyes in order to keep from bursting out my brain against some familiar object swerved into my path by my distorted vision." (Chapter 6, page )

So What? #4 IM reflects on the fact that he tried to be everything he was suppose to be. He played by the rules and acted his role, only to end up getting kicked out of school. He now sees that up to this point he has failed because he did everything everyone else wanted him to do, rather than doing things for himself.

In Invisible Man, home was all the experiences IM had when he lived in the south. He used them later on in life to break away from his obedience that was only bringing him down. He learned how to find the truth by experiencing failure. Conclusion