The motif of vision, one that is effectively portrayed throughout the story, contradicts the visions of leaders and alternates the results of their impact on the society. Blindness leads to the downfall of any hero, it obstructs their judgements, which therefore, causes them to fail to see temptations and eventually fall into their nadir. However, the narrator witnesses the blindness of Barbee and Brother Jack, which he recognizes, but does not fully acknowledge it to prevent the same from happening to himself. “For a swift instant, between the gesture and the opaque glitter of his glasses, I saw the blinking of sightless eyes. Homer A. Barbee was blind” (133). After giving an awe-inspiring speech, Barbee falls onto the ground and revealing
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However, in contrary, Barbee is blind, blocking his sight of the visible world and of the materialistic world he is trusted to preach. Yet, even revealing his blindness, the narrator is moved by Barbee’s speech, causing him to accept his guilt of shocking Norton. He confronts Bledsoe, who is also blinded, but distinctly, Bledsoe is not physically blinded, his pride is what alters his vision, throwing him into illusions. “‘If there weren’t men like me running schools like this, there’d be no South. Nor North, either’” (142). Bledsoe is boasting about his power within the white society, even in truth, he is not equal to whites at all. He allows himself to believe in that way, which obstructs his views of the world. However, as the college president, Bledsoe pretends to see things clearly and acts dominant. Whereas, he “ — pretend to please [the] big white folk[s]” (142). Still, he manages to intimidate and trick the narrator to leave the college and eventually joins the Brotherhood in Harlem. There, once more, the narrator sees the blindness of leaders who are destined to guide their party to …show more content…
Even though racial and social inequality blinds him for the most part of his journey, buffering his vision, the invisible man is able to rise out of the nadir and return back to home. The idea to grasp his true self, to acknowledge who he really is, recovers his vision of the world. It divides the things he once saw as one, he sees light and dark, good and evil, equality and inequality. Thus, he refuses to go back to the world he once had called home. Instead, he goes onward from the nadir, to the path of home, knowing who he is and what roles he could play as an invisible
However, in contrary, Barbee is blind, blocking his sight of the visible world and of the materialistic world he is trusted to preach. Yet, even revealing his blindness, the narrator is moved by Barbee’s speech, causing him to accept his guilt of shocking Norton. He confronts Bledsoe, who is also blinded, but distinctly, Bledsoe is not physically blinded, his pride is what alters his vision, throwing him into illusions. “‘If there weren’t men like me running schools like this, there’d be no South. Nor North, either’” (142). Bledsoe is boasting about his power within the white society, even in truth, he is not equal to whites at all. He allows himself to believe in that way, which obstructs his views of the world. However, as the college president, Bledsoe pretends to see things clearly and acts dominant. Whereas, he “ — pretend to please [the] big white folk[s]” (142). Still, he manages to intimidate and trick the narrator to leave the college and eventually joins the Brotherhood in Harlem. There, once more, the narrator sees the blindness of leaders who are destined to guide their party to …show more content…
Even though racial and social inequality blinds him for the most part of his journey, buffering his vision, the invisible man is able to rise out of the nadir and return back to home. The idea to grasp his true self, to acknowledge who he really is, recovers his vision of the world. It divides the things he once saw as one, he sees light and dark, good and evil, equality and inequality. Thus, he refuses to go back to the world he once had called home. Instead, he goes onward from the nadir, to the path of home, knowing who he is and what roles he could play as an invisible