While the women in Invisible Man make few appearances, these women are important plot devices that drive the narrator’s journey towards true authenticity by portraying feminine stereotypes that motivates the narrator into situations within the novel, they are a force that steers the narrator towards self-discovery and true authenticity, and some of these women are connections to the narrator’s culture.
The first female character we meet in Invisible Man is the blond nude dancer with the American flag emblazoned on her belly in the Battle Royal. The blond nude is described with imagery befitting her role. The narrator 's reactions and actions are influenced in the Battle Royal with increasing consciousness on his part (Slyvander 77). Increasing …show more content…
Emma is carefully dressed while her face is described as quite handsome. Emma makes the error of being eavesdropped when she says, "Don 't you think he should be a little blacker?" but our narrator has developed the knack of handling an insult with a reverse jab: "Who is she anyway, Brother Jack 's wife, his girlfriend? Maybe she wants to see me sweat coal tar, ink, shoe polish, graphite. What was I, a man, or a natural resource?" (Ellison 263). Finally, he pulls out in his head the ultimate male tool of superiority: "I 'd like to show her how really black I am, I thought" (Ellison 263). He creates this equal less-than-him by making her into a sexual object of his primitive desires.
The white females in the novel were also portrayed as the short-lived patrons of the protagonist. It was a white girl who saved his life after he had made the eviction speech; it was a white woman who really rolled out the welcome wagon to the Brotherhood; it was a white woman who lied about having issues with certain aspects of the belief system the Brotherhood has in order to get the narrator to her apartment to seduce …show more content…
The narrator 's first encounter with Mary came shortly after his discharge from the hospital. She took an immediate interest in his welfare and demanded that he come along with her to rest until he felt better. Aside from showing deep concern for the narrator, Mary came across as being a demanding, determined figure; she seemed to demand respect and received it graciously because of her dependable, charitable performance (Sistrunk-Krakue). Mary Rambo takes center stage and claims space for investigations of the means that create chances for black female expressions of agency, power, and wisdom in a novel long condemned for its stereotyping of women in general and black women in particular. She is a force that reminded the narrator of the leadership and some “great” achievement that is expected of the narrator, which causes him to be torn between resenting her and appreciating her for the hope that she kept alive (Ellison
The first female character we meet in Invisible Man is the blond nude dancer with the American flag emblazoned on her belly in the Battle Royal. The blond nude is described with imagery befitting her role. The narrator 's reactions and actions are influenced in the Battle Royal with increasing consciousness on his part (Slyvander 77). Increasing …show more content…
Emma is carefully dressed while her face is described as quite handsome. Emma makes the error of being eavesdropped when she says, "Don 't you think he should be a little blacker?" but our narrator has developed the knack of handling an insult with a reverse jab: "Who is she anyway, Brother Jack 's wife, his girlfriend? Maybe she wants to see me sweat coal tar, ink, shoe polish, graphite. What was I, a man, or a natural resource?" (Ellison 263). Finally, he pulls out in his head the ultimate male tool of superiority: "I 'd like to show her how really black I am, I thought" (Ellison 263). He creates this equal less-than-him by making her into a sexual object of his primitive desires.
The white females in the novel were also portrayed as the short-lived patrons of the protagonist. It was a white girl who saved his life after he had made the eviction speech; it was a white woman who really rolled out the welcome wagon to the Brotherhood; it was a white woman who lied about having issues with certain aspects of the belief system the Brotherhood has in order to get the narrator to her apartment to seduce …show more content…
The narrator 's first encounter with Mary came shortly after his discharge from the hospital. She took an immediate interest in his welfare and demanded that he come along with her to rest until he felt better. Aside from showing deep concern for the narrator, Mary came across as being a demanding, determined figure; she seemed to demand respect and received it graciously because of her dependable, charitable performance (Sistrunk-Krakue). Mary Rambo takes center stage and claims space for investigations of the means that create chances for black female expressions of agency, power, and wisdom in a novel long condemned for its stereotyping of women in general and black women in particular. She is a force that reminded the narrator of the leadership and some “great” achievement that is expected of the narrator, which causes him to be torn between resenting her and appreciating her for the hope that she kept alive (Ellison