Rind and Heart
Sometimes without ever being physically present, a character can still manage to have a significant impact on the development of other characters by personifying a prominent theme of the novel that inspires an important transformation. In Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, Rinehart never actually appears in his physical form, but still strongly influences the narrator, a young black man from the South who moves to Harlem to pursue his dreams of becoming a powerful figure in society, despite the systemic racism working against him. Rinehart’s fluid form helps the narrator realize his true place on the margins of society, demonstrating how an ambiguous identity can function as a mask, making it possible to break away from molds of …show more content…
Rinehart’s quality of being undefined also represents a distinct contrast to the scientific ideas of the Brotherhood, an organization of both whites and blacks that claims to be focused on furthering the equality of all people. When the narrator first joins the Brotherhood, he expects to be able to gain power through speeches sharing his own passionate ideas about equality. However, despite being able to write and perform his own speeches, the Brotherhood is constantly trying to limit what the Invisible Man can do by forcing him into an identity that they have constructed for him by giving him a new name and essentially brainwashing him with their own ideas. Eventually, after meeting Rinehart, the Invisible Man realizes that the Brotherhood is not helping him to gain power, but is in fact taking away power from him by controlling what he does and says. In his final encounter with the Brotherhood’s leader, Brother Jack, the Invisible Man recounts, “And after all this time I had just discovered Jack’s missing eye” (Ellison 499). Blindness is a recurring motif throughout the novel used to demonstrate a character’s ignorance to certain truths. Realizing
Sometimes without ever being physically present, a character can still manage to have a significant impact on the development of other characters by personifying a prominent theme of the novel that inspires an important transformation. In Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, Rinehart never actually appears in his physical form, but still strongly influences the narrator, a young black man from the South who moves to Harlem to pursue his dreams of becoming a powerful figure in society, despite the systemic racism working against him. Rinehart’s fluid form helps the narrator realize his true place on the margins of society, demonstrating how an ambiguous identity can function as a mask, making it possible to break away from molds of …show more content…
Rinehart’s quality of being undefined also represents a distinct contrast to the scientific ideas of the Brotherhood, an organization of both whites and blacks that claims to be focused on furthering the equality of all people. When the narrator first joins the Brotherhood, he expects to be able to gain power through speeches sharing his own passionate ideas about equality. However, despite being able to write and perform his own speeches, the Brotherhood is constantly trying to limit what the Invisible Man can do by forcing him into an identity that they have constructed for him by giving him a new name and essentially brainwashing him with their own ideas. Eventually, after meeting Rinehart, the Invisible Man realizes that the Brotherhood is not helping him to gain power, but is in fact taking away power from him by controlling what he does and says. In his final encounter with the Brotherhood’s leader, Brother Jack, the Invisible Man recounts, “And after all this time I had just discovered Jack’s missing eye” (Ellison 499). Blindness is a recurring motif throughout the novel used to demonstrate a character’s ignorance to certain truths. Realizing