Invisible Man’s “the vet” and relationship to other characters

It is not only dangerous but also inefficient for the rulers to control the subjugated only through brute force. It is much safer and more efficient to make the obedient and talented individuals of the controlled class to have a place in society, thus incentivizing them to fit into the established system and thereby letting them contribute to the hegemony.

In such sense, the early relationship between Mr. Norton and the protagonist is a symbiotic contract. In return of some degradation, the protagonist is ensured a position in society as a respected expert, thus functioning as a buffet class between the controlling and the controlled class. Mr. Norton is in a much better side of the deal: through a significant donation, he gains a social position as a philanthropist while still enjoying what is left of his fortune. The two characters are in a socially constructed mirage that serves to satisfies both, of course more for the likes of Mr. Norton.

The advent of “the vet” is what shatters this mirage. Taking the form as a Shakespearean fool, the vet exposes the hypocrisy contained in the aforementioned contract. The vet is a possible fate of the protagonist. “[He] performed a few brain surgeries that won [him] some small attention” as a successful brain surgeon (91). But then he “was forced to the utmost degradation because [he] possessed (…) the belief that [his] knowledge could bring [himself] dignity (…) and other men health” (93). He may be a shell-shocked mad veteran, yet he is capable of seeing the truth the protagonist and Mr. Norton fail to, or rather refuse to, see: this is no country for blacks.