“In my hole in the basement there are exactly one thousand three hundred sixty nine lights” (Ellison 7); if that is true, how can one still be hidden in darkness? The Invisible Man spent time in his well-lit hole in a basement because “it [allowed him] to feel [a] vital aliveness” (Ellison 7). The narrator aspired to be “a man of vision” (Ellison 7), yet somehow others didn’t see him. He desired so strongly to make a difference that he tricked himself into believing he had an impact on society. The Invisible Man is one big joke in which the narrator tricks himself into believing he can be visible.
The narrator begins to question his visibility when others don’t seem to notice him. One illustration of his invisibility occurs while meeting with a woman to discuss ideology and the Brotherhood. This meeting developed into an affair. The narrator was concerned about the woman’s husband, Hubert, coming home and seeing him with her, but she insisted that her husband was staying in Chicago. To their surprise, Hubert …show more content…
The Invisible Man, still wandering the streets from the revolt, didn’t notice any of the mannequins until he sees a “skull rolling away from the backbone” (Ellison 556). The narrator sees the rest of the mannequins only after he back tracks and realizes there had been many bodies he simply missed. Similarly, others often overlook the narrator. He claims ¨[he is] invisible… simply because people refuse to see [him]” (Ellison 3). Furthermore, even after the narrator physically sees the mannequins, he fails to realize what they truly are; he continues to wonder if some of the hanging bodies could be real. Likewise, there is no way to test if the ‘impact’ the narrator is having on society is valid or a mere illusion. The way the narrator bypasses the mannequins and questions if they are real portrays the way he is seen in others’
The narrator begins to question his visibility when others don’t seem to notice him. One illustration of his invisibility occurs while meeting with a woman to discuss ideology and the Brotherhood. This meeting developed into an affair. The narrator was concerned about the woman’s husband, Hubert, coming home and seeing him with her, but she insisted that her husband was staying in Chicago. To their surprise, Hubert …show more content…
The Invisible Man, still wandering the streets from the revolt, didn’t notice any of the mannequins until he sees a “skull rolling away from the backbone” (Ellison 556). The narrator sees the rest of the mannequins only after he back tracks and realizes there had been many bodies he simply missed. Similarly, others often overlook the narrator. He claims ¨[he is] invisible… simply because people refuse to see [him]” (Ellison 3). Furthermore, even after the narrator physically sees the mannequins, he fails to realize what they truly are; he continues to wonder if some of the hanging bodies could be real. Likewise, there is no way to test if the ‘impact’ the narrator is having on society is valid or a mere illusion. The way the narrator bypasses the mannequins and questions if they are real portrays the way he is seen in others’