1. Briefly summarize the plot of the novel you read, and explain how the narrative fulfills the author's purpose (based on your well-informed interpretation of same).
The main character, who's name is not given, tells his story from a hole that he lights with many many light bulbs. He tells the reader of his story from high school graduation. He gives a speech for a group of important white men and they treat brutally but they give him a scholarship to go to a college for African Americans. He then tells us of how he is given the job of driving around Mr. Norton, an important man to the college. He completely wrecks the experience and is expelled from the college with 7 letters of recommendation from the president of the college. The narrator goes to find work in Harlem where he finds out that the letters of recommendation actually discourage the employer to hire him. He finds work in a paint factory where he gets in a fight with another worker and is sent to the hospital were the doctor experiments on him. He recovers, becomes the spokes person for a group called the Brotherhood and he has his ups and downs with the members of the group. He leaves Harlem to only come back to riots. The book comes back full circle when the narrator tells us of how he was chased by cops and falls in the hole but now he thinks it is time to come out of hibernation.
The book fulfills the author's purpose by commenting on the social problems that African Americans faced during the 1950's and 60's.
2. Succinctly describe the theme of the novel. Avoid cliches.
Individual and social responsibility
A person has a responsibility to stay true to themselves and a responsibility in society to represent their group of people within society. At the end of the book, the narrator realizes that "even an invisible man has a socially responsible role to play." and that "Who knows but that, on the lower frequencies, I speak for you?" By saying these last lines he establishes that everyone in society has a place and a job where it be within a small group of people or a large race. The narrator also speaks of the importance of individuality and of finding yourself. He explains that he was letting the expectations of others define who he was instead of allow himself to understand who he was. You should be part of society, society should be part of you but you shouldn't let society define completely who you are.
3. Describe the author's tone. Include a minimum of three excerpts that illustrate your point(s).
To the point but still descriptive- The author doesn't use long descriptive sentences to describe an event, he uses the right amount to allow the reader to picture the event.
"Pulling on my overcoat I got down my prized brief case from the closet. It was still as new as the night of the battle royal and sagged now as I placed the smashed bank and coins inside and locked the flap. Then I closed the door and left."
"The barroom was warm and quiet. The usual rows of bottles with exotic names were lined on the shelves, and in the rear, where four men argued in Spanish over glasses of beer, a juke box, lit up green and red, played "Media Luz." And as we waited for the bartender, I tried to figure the purpose of the trip."Philosophical
“Life is to be lived, not controlled; and humanity is won by continuing to play in face of certain defeat.”4. Describe a minimum of ten literary elements/techniques you observed that strengthened your understanding of the author's purpose, the text's theme and/or your sense of the tone. For each, please include textual support to help illustrate the point for your readers. (Please include edition and page numbers for easy reference.)
Allusion- Pg. 6, a reference to Ford, Thomas Edison and Benjamin Franklin. This is ironic because he is not even close to the accomplishments they made and because they were all white where as he is considered a second hand citizen.
"Though invisible, I am in the great American tradition of tinkers. That makes me kin to Ford, Edison and Franklin."Metaphor- Pg. 430, He compares metal with the voice.
"And I looked up through a pain so intense now that the air seemed to roar with the clanging of metal..."
Simile- Pg. 90, the violence in this quote helps the reader understand where the founder was coming from.
"I remembered the administration and fear he inspired in everyone on the campus; the pictures in the Negro press captioned "EDUCATOR" in type that exploded like a rifle shot..."Imagery- Pg. 149,
"Flags were fluttering in the breeze from each of a maze of buildings below the sign, and for a moment it was like watching some vast patriotic ceremony from a distance."Dialogue Pg 24-25, The dialogue is between the important white men and the narrator when he was delivering a speech to them. Instead of "social responsibility" he said "social equality" and this did not go well with the white men. The dialogue is important because this is what shows his character and the character of the men in the room.
Irony- The white people that the narrator encounters label and prejudge him for being black and you'd expect the Brotherhood and other black people in his community to accept him but the irony is present where they do the opposite. Both parties do not allow him to be himself and both want him to "remember his place". He is chased by both cops and men from the Brotherhood at the end of the book which end up with him in a hole.
Motif- Through out the whole book, the motif of invisibility is present. The narrator is the invisible, no name man who insists that there are people who are blind and are sleepwalkers and there for they do not see him. He really means they are socially blind and socially bias, only seeing what they want to see. He puts the concept in these terms helps the reader understand what his world as an African American man is like during the 50's- 60's.
Flashback- The whole book is a flash back. This allows the reader to come full circle just as the narrator does with himself.
CHARACTERIZATION
1. Describe two examples of direct characterization and two examples of indirect characterization. Why does the author use both approaches, and to what end (i.e., what is your lasting impression of the character as a result)?
The author never gives the narrators name and the readers are left alone to piece together what his true identity is. This is where indirect characterization comes along. We get a sense of who the narrator is by reading how he reacts to the other characters or how he acts towards the characters. We see direct characterization when he calls himself naive and when he describes his past self.
2. Does the author's syntax and/or diction change when s/he focuses on character? How? Example(s)?
The syntax and diction tends to be more bland when he describes a minor character directly. But when describing Mary for instance, he uses indirect characterization which allows room for creativity. Pg 191-193.
3. Is the protagonist static or dynamic? Flat or round? Explain.
The narrator begins the story a very naive person who wants to see only the good in people or expects people to have good intentions. This is quickly slapped out of him when he is treated badly by the important white men. He goes to college and is expelled by one of his own and is back stabbed by him as well. Women try to use him to fulfill selfish desires. The Brotherhood doesn't go good for him either and he is left all alone in a hole to reflect on who he is. This in my opinion is where he proves to us that he is a dynamic character because this is where he understands who he is as a man and where he stands with himself and with society.
4. After reading the book did you come away feeling like you'd met a person or read a character? Analyze one textual example that illustrates your reaction.
The fact that the author never gave the narrator a name bothered me because I would've really loved to make him more human and alive that way. But, regardless of the lack of a name, by the end of the book I felt like I had met a person because the author wrote about the character and the character's interactions in a way that made them seem unique. In the end, the narrator represented society in that we are all invisible to the people that choose not to see us and we are also the blind and sleepwalkers who choose not to see certain people.
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