In the beginning of chapter fourteen, the narrator fixates on how Mary is serving cabbage for the third time that week, revealing that “cabbage was always a depressing reminder of the leaner years of [his] childhood.” (296) This is one of the few times that the narrator mentions his past before attending college, after talking earlier about his grandfather, and it is this rare memory that seems to lead him to a “quick sickness” (296) with the conclusion that Mary must be short of money, on account of his not paying rent and board. It is unclear whether Mary is really short of money — she does later tells the narrator that he doesn’t have to worry about paying yet — and so the cabbage scene depends only on the narrator’s account, reminding the reader that the narrator has a unique history and corresponding personality that shapes the narrative. The narrator even says later that he “seemed to be haunted by cabbage fumes,” (298) which further supports the sense that his past is affecting how he perceives the present and, in turn, how we as readers are viewing the scene.

As the narrator walks down the street, he encounters a vendor selling yams, and the scent of the yams brings back memories of a personal history,  evoking a wave of nostalgia. “I took a bite, finding it as sweet and hot as any I’d ever had, and was overcome with such a surge of homesickness that I turned away to keep my control. I walked along, munching the yam, just as suddenly overcome by an intense feeling of freedom – simply because I was eating while walking along the street. It was exhilarating” (264). This embrace of his southern roots marks a start contrast from his time at college, where he made a conscious effort to distance himself from anything to do with black identity. This is an important moment for the narrator, because he his no longer ashamed of something that is inherently ingrained in his identity.  This contrasts starkly with his memories with classmates, where “you could cause us the greatest humiliation simply by confronting us with something we likes”(264). This is a symbol of maturity; the narrator now appreciates aspects of his culture, rather than shunning them.

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.

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.