Discussion Posts – Page 13 – ENGL 25640 The Problem of Fictional Character

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Development of the Character of the Invisible Man

For the past 6 or 7 chapters, the character of the invisible man is in a static state of his development. His aspirations, his motives, his actions are all very consistent: he acts how he thinks that white people and the university want him to act, aspiring to one day run the university and help other students become upstanding citizens such as himself. Even after Dr. Bledsoe sends him to New York, he still holds this aspiration and assures himself that soon he will continue on this right path of his. However, at the end of Chapter 9, with the reveal of what Dr. Bledsoe actually said in his letters to the rich New York trustees, we see the invisible man almost snap. He states that he “lay shaking with anger” when he got back to his room, and he literally states that “no matter what happened to me I’d never be the same” (Ellison 194). This scene representations a huge turning point for the invisible man; he is now beginning to shed the ideals that were ingrained in him and is starting to make a new path of his own.

Transparency and deceit

January 10, 2018 / jsourdillon / 0 Comments

In chapters 4 to 5 of Invisible Man, the invisible man’s colleagues are described as “frozen in solemn masks”, singing “mechanically” (p.111) the songs white men love to hear black people sing. As the college is shrouded in deceits and lies – and its prime member Dr. Bledsoe most of all, the invisible man’s relationship to others is redefined through the lens of a dichotomy between transparency and deceit. As he becomes the only character to be completely transparent (to the point that Bledsoe does not even believe him, see “Don’t lie to me!” p. 139) he is made aware of the differences with those around him. His interior life may stay transparent to the reader, through the mechanics of the first person narration, but by the end of chapter nine, the subconscious nature of his previous dreams, starring his grandfather chasing and belittling him, take on a more conscious meaning as he starts “dreaming of revenge” (p.195).

Thoughts on the Character of the Invisible Man and his Role

January 10, 2018 / jrleahy / 0 Comments

I have found that for the most part the Invisible Man lived up to his name, as I had not been able to grasp any attribute ascribable to him rather than the race as a whole. This notion was reinforced in chapter five where music and weaving at the loom indicated that all individuals at the college were part, or at least acted the part, of the same harmony and cloth, leaving the Invisible Man feeling “more lost than ever” as he realizes his dissonance (133). But when he arrives in Harlem, he also describes the protest there as having “a strange out of joint quality” (160-161). This marked a turning point in my eye where a vehicle for the Invisible Man we met in the prologue changed to a character we would refer to as the Invisible Man. Even starting in Dr. Bledsoe’s office, the Invisible Man is no longer defined by the purposefully portrayed meek image, and in his dissonant actions I saw a character for the first time.

Relationship of External & Internal Conflict in Invisible Man

January 10, 2018 / michelleli / 0 Comments

External conflict with the social world of the novel and internal conflict with the (character’s own) selfhood interact closely in this novel; they build upon each other. The defining external conflict is with the racism and white supremacy that dominates in every aspect of society (through Bledsoe, we see that this is not limited to when existing in white society); internal conflict in this novel is the oppressed narrator’s continual struggle to define oneself, which is conveyed through the internal monologue of the narrator. The oppressive nature of racism means that it has a complete and insidious effect upon the narrator’s self (and attempts to define it). The external racism informs how the internal self is defined, at least for the narrator, and in turn, the internal self that is defined acts within the external racist world. Readers see this in the narrator, who models and forms himself-both his external representation to others and his internal self- after what white society wants (submissive, obedient, and well behaved). An example of this is when he rehearses how the interviews with the white men should go on pg. 157, he goes through his interior (“I would put on my best manner… I would smile and agree”) and his appearance, constructing a entire self as dictated by the oppressive society. The troubling part is how he accepts this self.

How the internal conflict in the narrator plays out follows closely with WEB DuBois’s idea of “double consciousness”, which is experienced by the oppressed in an oppressive society. The two consciousness is “always looking at one’s self through the eyes” of the racist white society and “of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt” (8). The challenge to attain true self-consciousness (which is not allowed by the oppressive society), to become one’s own self is definitely seen in the narrator, who is stuck in the “double consciousness” as detailed above. The vet in Ch. 7 tries to get the narrator to pursue a true self (“Be your own father, young man” (156)) and to be aware of his self outside the self dictated by the racist society (“Play the game, but play it your own way- part of the time at least… Learn how it operates, learn how you operate” (153-4) emphasis on you (the narrator), which echoes the narrator’s grandfather’s lesson).

Desires of the Invisible Man

January 10, 2018 / jpanct1 / 0 Comments

Though the Invisible Man has previously expressed his desires , they were primarily represented through bettering himself and his race in compliance with the white idea of doing so. In fact, they were so calculated and lacking in emotion that perhaps desire wouldn’t be an accurate way to describe it.After realizing that he had been back stabbed, the Invisible Man exhibits a feeling of rage which we have not seen, a desire to kill. “Yes I thought, I owe it to the race and to myself. I’ll kill him”. This is a significant transformation in the attitude of the Invisible Man. One could argue that this is first time we truly see desire, as opposed to rationality. In this instance, he is consumed by it, overtaken by the very idea of revenge on the man who he once deeply respected, and we see it as a defining aspect of his character.

The Self-Deceptive Internal Logic of Dr. Bledsoe

January 9, 2018 / michelleshim / 1 Comment

One of the most perplexing characters thus far in Invisible Man is Dr. Bledsoe, who seems to toe the line between self-awareness and self-deception. Dr. Bledsoe revels in his own personal belief that he pulls the strings; he is the masked puppeteer, the ultimate ruler dominating the school, “the king down here” (142). He seems so self-assured of his own power, a power that imbues him with a confidence in his own selfhood, differentiating him from other blacks and placing him at the top of the white power structure. Ironically, Dr. Bledsoe does exactly what the invisible man’s grandfather advised: he confesses, “I had to be strong and purposeful to get where I am. I had to wait and plan and lick around . . . Yes, I had to act the nigger!” (143). However, rather than utilizing deceit to rebel against the racist system, he only further perpetuates it by fooling both white and black people in order to propel himself into what he conceives as his own free power space, but is actually a crevice of self-deception he has carved out for himself. He warns, “When you buck against me, you’re bucking against power, rich white folk’s power, the nation’s power” (142), failing to see that he is as much a victim of racism as other blacks and that his consistent two-faced actions that dictate his life only further embed him into the power structure that he believes he has escaped.

Backstory in Invisible Man

January 8, 2018 / elliotk / 0 Comments

The Invisible Man is unable to reconcile his own backstory for this first segment of the novel, as shown by his dreams and nightmares about his grandfather on his deathbed. The trauma-esque visions seem to stem from his nature of analyzing the past- backstory is not just personal narrative, it is story, and therefore contains the formal elements of any story, including character (and with that interiority and exteriority). If the people in his past are characters, his grandfather, the “meekest of men” (as assumed from his exteriority) cannot reconcile his own final action of rebellion in his last words as a character. This breaks the assembled character, and until the Invisible Man can imagine a persona that can reconcile this action into it, his own backstory will haunt him because it becomes a non-sensical story.

Isolation and Self-Awareness in Invisible Man

January 8, 2018 / aattie / 0 Comments

In the prologue and opening scenes of Invisible Man, I was struck by the narrator’s isolation, or his lack of relationships to other characters. In particular, the narrator’s awareness of and ostensible satisfaction with this isolation seemed distinctive. As the narrator discusses his invisibility and goes on to describe his “warm hole,” he posits himself as existing independently from regular human interaction. Until he later describes his grandfather, he does not highlight relationships to a family or community as primary parts of his sense of self. Instead, he opens by positing his lack interaction with others as essential to his existence, claiming, “I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me” (3), but assuring the reader that being invisible has advantages. By describing himself as invisible, emphasizing his solitary life in what he calls a “hole,” and neglecting to describe his relationships to other characters in the opening of the novel, the narrator highlights his isolation as an important aspect of his character.

The Personal History of the Invisible Man

January 8, 2018 / caitlin24538 / 0 Comments

Invisible Man (Intro – Ch 4)

One important aspect of a fictional character is that of the character’s past or personal history. As readers, we need to have an understanding of the character’s past experiences in order to make assumptions and interpret their motivations and actions. Some novels begin in the childhood of their main character, explaining their past chronologically; others achieve this effect through memories and flashbacks. In Invisible Man, Ellison employs a third tactic, that of having the main character narrate the story of his younger self. It is a story within a story, and the younger self remains a separate character until he eventually converges with the narrator.

The importance of a fictional character’s past can be seen in our reactions as readers to the invisible man’s violent outburst in the very beginning of the prologue (p 4-5). Knowing the main character for less than a page, the reader is suddenly confronted with this character violently attacking a stranger who insults him. At the time it is somewhat inexplicable and shocking. However, after the reader learns of the invisible man’s experiences as a young man, particularly in the way he was physically and mentally tortured at the banquet in Chapter 1, his violent outburst in the prologue is more explicable.

The connection between character and plot

January 8, 2018 / ingoldjr / 0 Comments

Beginning with Ralph Ellison’s introduction to Invisible Man, I was struck by the unique relationship between character and plot. Describing his method of constructing the novel, Ellison states that as he “began to structure the movement” of the plot, the character of the invisible man “began to merge with…more specialized concerns” (xix). When discussing the unfolding narrative, the invisible man cautions himself not to get “too far ahead of the story”, even if “the end is in the beginning and lies ahead” (6). Even as the story shifts through time and place, the invisible man remains at the center, possibly providing the momentum that was described by Ellison as a merging of character and plot. It’s interesting to consider the significance of plot in relation to the development of fictional character, and how this relationship might be categorized: does one’s development drive the development of another, or do they work in unison?

ENGL 25640 The Problem of Fictional Character

University of Chicago