3.1 The Founder Statue
The Invisible Man's first confrontation with a historical narrative occurs in retrospect. As the protagonist, now living in self-imposed exile, attempts to recall his college days, his memories are blissful at first but come to a halt when, suddenly, “the spell breaks” (IM 35). His cognitive dissonance is triggered by two conflicting images of the Founder statue1 that invade his mind: [I]n my mind's eye I see the bronze statue of the college Founder, the cold Father symbol, his hands outstretched in the breathtaking gesture of lifting a veil that flutters in hard, metallic folds above the face of a kneeling slave; and I am standing puzzled, unable to decide whether the veil is really being lifted, or lowered more …show more content…
Provo falsifies the historical narrative of freedom and equality by underlining the absence of both in the face of injustice. Thus, the “frozen footstep” (IM 272) in which the freedom papers rest becomes emblematic of Ellison's critique: real progress trails far behind the historical narrative that proclaims it.
3.3 The Legchain(s)
Invisible Man's most evocative historical object combines both the power of dominant historiography and its injustice to demonstrate the danger that distorted historiography poses to progress. The legchain motif first surfaces in Bledsoe's office when the protagonist sees Bledsoe “[reach] for [...] an old leg shackle from slavery which he proudly called a 'symbol of our progress'” (IM 141). However, the shackle unfolds its significance only later, when juxtaposed with Tarp's counterpart: I took it in my hand, a thick, dark, oily piece of filed steel that had been twisted open and forced partly back into place, on which I saw marks that might have been made by the blade of a hatchet. It was such a link as I had seen on Bled soe's desk, only while that one had been smooth, Tarp's bore the marks of haste and violence, looking as though it had been attacked and conquered before it stubbornly yielded. …show more content…
Tarp's shackle is his personal possession, inextricably tied to his individual fate. On the contrary, Bledsoe's chain is depersonalized to the point that we do not even know if it was worn at all. Assuming that it once was, however, the unscathed state of it tells a story of liberation that is vastly different from the violent struggle embodied in Tarp's. While Tarp recounts his individual tale of forcibly breaking his chain, Bledsoe's smooth shackle implies a general narrative of painless removal without a trace of complication or violence. Instead, its intactness suggests that keys were used to unlock it. This subtle detail changes the narrative of liberation drastically. An unlocking of chains paints yet another picture of white slave owners 'giving' freedom, denying black agency and struggle against an oppressive system that had to be “attacked and conquered before it stubbornly yielded”
The Invisible Man's first confrontation with a historical narrative occurs in retrospect. As the protagonist, now living in self-imposed exile, attempts to recall his college days, his memories are blissful at first but come to a halt when, suddenly, “the spell breaks” (IM 35). His cognitive dissonance is triggered by two conflicting images of the Founder statue1 that invade his mind: [I]n my mind's eye I see the bronze statue of the college Founder, the cold Father symbol, his hands outstretched in the breathtaking gesture of lifting a veil that flutters in hard, metallic folds above the face of a kneeling slave; and I am standing puzzled, unable to decide whether the veil is really being lifted, or lowered more …show more content…
Provo falsifies the historical narrative of freedom and equality by underlining the absence of both in the face of injustice. Thus, the “frozen footstep” (IM 272) in which the freedom papers rest becomes emblematic of Ellison's critique: real progress trails far behind the historical narrative that proclaims it.
3.3 The Legchain(s)
Invisible Man's most evocative historical object combines both the power of dominant historiography and its injustice to demonstrate the danger that distorted historiography poses to progress. The legchain motif first surfaces in Bledsoe's office when the protagonist sees Bledsoe “[reach] for [...] an old leg shackle from slavery which he proudly called a 'symbol of our progress'” (IM 141). However, the shackle unfolds its significance only later, when juxtaposed with Tarp's counterpart: I took it in my hand, a thick, dark, oily piece of filed steel that had been twisted open and forced partly back into place, on which I saw marks that might have been made by the blade of a hatchet. It was such a link as I had seen on Bled soe's desk, only while that one had been smooth, Tarp's bore the marks of haste and violence, looking as though it had been attacked and conquered before it stubbornly yielded. …show more content…
Tarp's shackle is his personal possession, inextricably tied to his individual fate. On the contrary, Bledsoe's chain is depersonalized to the point that we do not even know if it was worn at all. Assuming that it once was, however, the unscathed state of it tells a story of liberation that is vastly different from the violent struggle embodied in Tarp's. While Tarp recounts his individual tale of forcibly breaking his chain, Bledsoe's smooth shackle implies a general narrative of painless removal without a trace of complication or violence. Instead, its intactness suggests that keys were used to unlock it. This subtle detail changes the narrative of liberation drastically. An unlocking of chains paints yet another picture of white slave owners 'giving' freedom, denying black agency and struggle against an oppressive system that had to be “attacked and conquered before it stubbornly yielded”