Becoming Invisible

The concept of invisibility and the narrator’s self-awareness are very tightly related. From the prologue we learn all about the concept of invisibility, but it doesn't totally make sense to us. We only start to understand the idea, when we look at the narrator’s realization of freedom and agency. At the beginning of the novel the narrator seems absolutely clueless. When he gives his speech at the Battle Royal, he doesn't understand that the audience is messing with him. When he gets kicked out of the school, he doesn't realize that Bledsoe is setting him up for failure. Even when he joins the brotherhood it takes a long time before he wonders if he was being used as “a natural resource”. In all of these instances we see no thoughts on "invisibility" and he is still oblivious to everyone shaping his life for him.

The first steps to his realization start in the hospital. After being subjected to the machine, the narrator is very disorientated but he has a brief moment of clarity after the nurses made him angry.

“And suddenly my bewilderment suspended and I wanted to be angry, murderously angry. But somehow the pulse of current smashing through my body prevented me. Something had been disconnected. For though I had seldom used my capacities for anger and indignation, I had no doubt that I possessed them; and, like a man who knows that he must fight, whether angry or not, when called a son of a bitch, I tried to imagine myself angry -- only to discover a deeper sense of remoteness.” (p 237)

Before this point, we have never seen the narrator express a whole lot of emotion. Maybe a few instinctual feelings of fear and panic with Mr. Norton, but they were natural feelings that everyone in that situation would feel. This is the first time where we see individual thoughts and emotions that were personal to the narrator. He even says “I seldom used my capacities for anger and indignation”, so we can recognize that he is making some headway into making his own decisions.

Later when he first joins the Brotherhood he gives a speech that is emotional, but is criticized for not being scientific enough. The Brotherhood’s ideology states that people need to think for themselves, rather than just being energized into a thoughtless mob. This is ironic, because by forcing the Narrator’s speeches to be scientific they are taking away his personal thoughts and replacing them with a concrete strict set of rules. The Brotherhood is taking advantage of the narrator and it is a while before the narrator realizes he is being used in this way.

The next turning point for the narrator is the scene of yams. This is scene is very consequential because it is shows that the narrator is doing what he wants to do. This scene contrasts with the scene in the diner where the narrator refuses the pork chop and coffee and instead takes the toast and orange juice. In the diner he is only taking the toast in order to defy the stereotype. This time he eats the yams because he wants to. “I walked along, munching the yam, just as suddenly overcome by an intense feeling of freedom -- simply because I was eating while walking along the street. It was exhilarating. I no longer had to worry about who saw me or about what was proper.” (p 264) As the narrator begins the realize that he should be making his own decisions, he starts to question everything else. Around this time the narrator wonders if the Brotherhood was just using him “as a natural resource”, and he starts to realize that people don’t see him as a person and are using him for their own self interests. This begins the path to the narrator becoming “The Invisible Man”.  

Steps towards the Prologue

In class we have discussed the prologue and how it the Narrator seems completely different in the prologue compared to the other chapters of the book. On top of that it seems that after almost every chapter our Narrator seems to be a different person. There is of course the idea of "invisibility" and you could argue that the Narrator progresses from a very eager member of society who is ready to enter the field of established power to a person who is seen but really is "invisible" and falls from the world of recognition and power. While his argument is totally valid, I would just like to look at the smaller changes between chapters and look at his character development.

In the opening chapters it seems that the Narrator is on top of the world, in his opinion. He is very optimistic about life and is pretty naive in the the sense of "the game". In the battle royale scene, he doesn't really notice that the audience is messing with him. He gives his speech with the intent of impressing all the important people in town, but he doesn't realize that they are there for entertainment -- that he is being mocked as a form of that entertainment.

In chapter 2, we see him in a similar light. He is super cocky and tries to look good to impress Mr. Norton. He thinks "Of course I knew he was a founder, but I knew also that it was advantageous to flatter rich white folks, Perhaps he'd give me a large tip, or a suit, or a scholarship next year"(p38). Similar to the speech, he just wants to impress people to look like an educated intelligent black student. But again he lacks understanding of the bigger picture, and it seems that his short term goals are going to be his downfall. This want to impress Norton can be seen as the cause for his expulsion. In order to give Norton what he wants and impress him, he takes  Norton to Trueblood, which in the end gets him kicked out of school.

Even after getting expelled he continues the over-the-top optimism. He sees it as a good opportunity to work in New York and gain experience before going back to college. This blind sense of optimism creates a stark contrast to his first personality change. This change happens after the Narrator discovers what was actually in the letters. This event causes the Narrator to switch from the happy-go-lucky optimism to a deep hatred for Bledsoe and him swearing revenge upon him. This very rapid change is rather confusing, and it is the first step, of many, towards the Narrator from the prologue.

Is Bigger Really Human?

Is Bigger Really Human?

I'm not about to argue for some absurd reality or complex conspiracy, rather I would like to take a look at Bigger's "choices" and evaluate whether he is merely responding to his environment or if he is consciously making decisions of his own free will. Conscious decisions are what separate us from animals. A predator displays an imitation of human choices, but they are not really aware of their decisions.They are simply recognizing stimuli and responding to it. Bigger Thomas can be seen in a similar light, and a variety of critics have commented on Bigger’s  inhuman qualities. At the same time Bigger in many instances does exhibit complex thought and unique ideas.

There is an extensive argument for both sides of this loaded coin. After analyzing Native Son in class for a week my gut instinct is to side with the Naturalist point of view, more specifically the "lab rat" analogy. That Wright is simply placing Bigger in a variety of compromising situations and simply observing his reactions and responses to the environment. The principal evidence for this argument is the quintessential scene of Bigger suffocating Mary. As the observer we can’t help but feel sorry for Bigger, he was only trying to protect himself and any action he performed would have ended up in a compromising situation. In those moments Bigger is driven solely by fear and panic. He does not think ahead, rather just responds to each event. The text is filled with reactionary language. There is a common pattern in the way the paragraphs are structured.

(p 85)

“The door behind him had creaked.” “He turned and a hysterical terror seized him, as though he were falling from a great height in a dream”

(...)

“Mary!” she spoke softly, questioningly.” “Bigger held his breath.”

(...)

“Mary!” “He felt Mary trying to rise and quickly he pushed her head back to the pillow”

The pattern continues for the rest of the scene, but it is obvious that every action Bigger does is directly in response to something Ms. Dalton does or says. He makes no independent actions, and his only thoughts during the scene are observations rather than assessments and impressions of the situation. This makes me think that Bigger is not in control of his actions and is just being Wright’s puppet to make a point. I agree with one of James Baldwin who said that the point of fiction is to show the development and complexity of characters. Bigger Thomas is not someone who displays this complexity. At this climactic moment Wright writes Bigger as a visceral character driven out of pure instinct rather than a complex character driven by individual thought.

There are still plenty of instances where Bigger looks like a completely different character. The main example that comes to mind is Bigger’s whole plot to frame Mary’s murder as a kidnapping and make a ransom demand. This plan, even though it spawned from the framework of Leopold and Loeb, took effort to put into place. Even after Bigger was caught people asked who his accomplices were, because no one thought that a black man would be capable of such a plan. This implies that his plan had to involve some careful thought out ideas.Bigger also considered the option of fleeing multiple times, but he made the decision to go through with his plan.

The two contradictory points of view both have very compelling arguments. It is important to think about the reasons why Wright would include two sides of such a contradictory character. I believe in some instance Wright purposefully trapped Bigger to illustrate that in the real world many people really are trapped and any decision they make leads down a bad path. Wright didn’t want the whole book to be solely based off of forced decisions because then Bigger would cease to be human and the corollary between Bigger and the rest of the world would cease to have value.