Throughout the novel, Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison incorporates many different ideas of blindness and impaired vision and how they affect someone's ability to see. In these situations the characters failure to comprehend outwardly correlates to their failures to comprehend inwardly. Ellison uses blindness to dissect the cultural prejudice against African Americans by the ingrained ideology of society. As the narrator struggles to find his identity in a world full of racism and stereotypes he is forced to accept his invisibility. Ellison conveys that there are two sides to blindness. One being Reverend Homer A. Barbee, a physically blind preacher who can not see the world as it is, and the other being Dr. A. Hebert Bledsoe, a power-hungry opportunist
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He believes that Bledsoe has “kept his promise” (133) to the Founder saying that he’ll continue his dream of free his people. Barbee speaks of all the hardship that the Founder has experienced and how they have changed when really nothing has changed. African Americans are still oppressed. He thinks that because the college is growing so is the outside world and that African American are starting to become successful and they are finding their place in the world. When really the only way black people can be successful is if the appease to the whites and do as their told. He thinks that Bledsoe is such a good leader and how he is a “worthy successor” (133). He is blind to Bledsoe’s deception and how he is leading Africans into the darkness that the Founder worked so hard to get rid of. He predicts that the college will create “legends” who will continue the Founders views and that they will continue to spread it, but it will never happen as long as they are under the control of Bledsoe. His physical inability brings to question the credibility of his speech because he is blind he can only rely on what other people tell. His stories might be true but they lack a key component. Barbee’s blindness prevents him from seeing who Bledsoe actually is. It also shows how inaccurate his judgment of character is. Ellison alludes to Homer the blind author of the Odyssey and The Iliad. He satirizes the college for making the Founder sound like a hero after all of the dangerous journeys he has had to endure in order to achieve his goal. Because he is blind he doesn’t see the color of someone’s skin. He preaches to the church as if everyone in
He believes that Bledsoe has “kept his promise” (133) to the Founder saying that he’ll continue his dream of free his people. Barbee speaks of all the hardship that the Founder has experienced and how they have changed when really nothing has changed. African Americans are still oppressed. He thinks that because the college is growing so is the outside world and that African American are starting to become successful and they are finding their place in the world. When really the only way black people can be successful is if the appease to the whites and do as their told. He thinks that Bledsoe is such a good leader and how he is a “worthy successor” (133). He is blind to Bledsoe’s deception and how he is leading Africans into the darkness that the Founder worked so hard to get rid of. He predicts that the college will create “legends” who will continue the Founders views and that they will continue to spread it, but it will never happen as long as they are under the control of Bledsoe. His physical inability brings to question the credibility of his speech because he is blind he can only rely on what other people tell. His stories might be true but they lack a key component. Barbee’s blindness prevents him from seeing who Bledsoe actually is. It also shows how inaccurate his judgment of character is. Ellison alludes to Homer the blind author of the Odyssey and The Iliad. He satirizes the college for making the Founder sound like a hero after all of the dangerous journeys he has had to endure in order to achieve his goal. Because he is blind he doesn’t see the color of someone’s skin. He preaches to the church as if everyone in