Novel Review
The Invisible Man
Free writing has selected The Invisible man for the Novel Spotlight. The prologue was somewhat disturbing. I thought it was going to be another American psycho. I was relieved when I realized that the protagonist was about to flashback. I could be wrong, but I do not recall ever learning the name of the protagonist. The characters make many references to the fact that he feels like he is not being seen especially by the white characters in the book. The idea of history is mentioned throughout the book. The main character wanted to make history. The character does speak of how he felt ashamed of being ashamed of his past. The past of slavery was something he was trying to run from. Equal rights were what he was trying to run to. He wanted to make history. When I kept reading passages that referred to the idea of making the future it made me think that he was so concentrated on the future, because the black past has not been one of peace, but of oppression. The idea of making a future, or a new history was a hope for the main character.
The character seems to feel a sense of un-realness, which goes along with the postmodernist genre. He seemed to be searching for a purpose. He wanted to prove himself, since he was kicked out of the college. He joined the brotherhood seeking a place of camaraderie. He also thought the brotherhood would be a way to accomplish something for himself and his people. The protagonist wonders why there is suspicion within the brotherhood. When he was in a fraternity there was nothing, but acceptance and brotherly love. The book shows that there are different forms of discrimination. There is Ras the destroyer who is against the black men that are a part of the brotherhood. He feels that the black men in the brotherhood are Judas, because they are allowing the white man to tell them how to help the black people. The protagonist even comes to realize that he is only a pawn within the system of the brotherhood. He was never made aware of their true plan.
The character seems to receive an epiphany towards the end of the book, when he realizes that both white and black people can be blinded by their own beliefs. The main character realized that he would rather die by his own actions. He did not want to die to further the plans of others. I thought the scene where he had to burn the items in his brief case in order to see was really poignant. He had to burn the trappings of the past in order to see his way into the future. The first thing he burnt was his high school diploma. The epilogue explains why the name is absent. He was given names, but no one asked him what he wanted to be called. This book is full of great rhetorical references. The idea of the character living in a hole, because he did not know who he was very symbolic, he was not able to come out of the hole until he discovered himself. The protagonist also realized that even if people do not see him he still has a role to play in society. Sometimes an unseen person can still be heard.
Question: Is the narrator able to end his hibernation, because he has written down his history? Is it because he had dealt with his past and now he must go out and make a present?
UPCOMING NOVEL REVIEW: THE JEFFERSON'S KEY
