Purti Pareek Period 7 Reading Journals #2:Invisible Man

Mr. Malchiodi 5/15/12

Wednesday: May 9th (pg 172-196) 1.) Invisibility - I watched him...ash tray. (Pg 180) 2.) Racism - 'My dear Mr. Emerson...hopeful traveler.' (Pg 191) 3.) Revenge - It happened...move. (Pg 195) There is very subtle change in the narrator's personality at this point. However, there is one important turning point in his personality. This is when he rejects the southern special at the deli, which he is offered because he is stereotyped into being a southerner, which he is. Him rejecting this special and getting regular toast and orange juice shows how he no longer appreciates just being grouped. This is in contrast to how he liked to be treated in the south; he liked being part of the perfect black male vision that many of his white mentors set for him. There were specific things he was supposed to do and not do but now, he is learning to become his own person and taking a stand. Additionally, we see the narrator become more hasty in this chapter. I personally believe this change, in particular, is a good one because he is no longer the puppet of someone like Dr. Bledsoe. This is illustrated when Emerson's son shows the narrator the letter and the narrator is infuriarated and ends the chapter by saying he wants to kill Dr. Bledsoe. In the beginning of the novel, this is a thought that would have never even occurred to our narrator but now, he sees the truth instead of what is just put in front of his eyes. He is slowly understanding that Dr. Bledsoe and these white folk are not his allies. The changes in his hasty actions reflect that. Thursday: May 10th (Pg 196-270) 1.) Racism - Struggling to move...encirvling vines. (Pg 201) 2.) Invisibility - I returned to buckets...I went along. (Pg 205) 3.) Identity - 'That's another reason...the tanks. (Pg 218) 4.) Revenge- I moved forward...him yelling. (Pg 226) Our narrator is the same in many aspects and different in many aspects throughout this part of the novel. Firstly, he continues his trend of hasty actions which are relatively new. This is shown when he gets into a fight with Mr. Brockaway. Before, he would never even have the nerve to fight with someone that was incharge of him. However, he also continues his complacency. He entered the north in order to define himself and his own actions. This all changes when he walks into the labor union's meeting and is labeled as a fink. His complacence to not really change his image is a continuing action from when he was in the south and, I think is negative. This is because it allows other people to define his identity rather than himself. Chapters 11/12 are crucial to the formation of the narrator we met in the present of the novel. When he is electrecuted and cannot remember anything, that is his new birth of the invisible man. His rebirth allows him to reformulate his own identity however he is restricted because he can't speak and the doctors have only the option of falling back on stereotypes of figure out who he is. The continuation of the narrator's silence allows him to be re-stereotyped (something which he was breaking out of in chapter 9). This is illustrated by the southern folk references that Ellison makes. There is one big change that changes the narrator wholy. He takes the vet's advice and goes into the city and is open. He is also his own father now. The change is that he now speaks irrevently of people like Bledsoe and Norton. This illustrates how he is no longer ruled by the complacency of being the puppet of white men rather he wants to formulate his own identity. This is the biggest change in the narrator's persona yet.

Friday: May 11th (Pg 261-295) 1.) Invisibility - I tried to remember...the first time. (Pg 233) 2.) Identity - A tremor shook me;...each word. (Pg 239-240) 3.) Racism - Leaving him...I went on. (Pg 249) What we might observe as change in the narrator's persona, is now just a continuation of his new identity that had begun in chapters 11/12. His bold action of giving the speech in the middle of people he did not even know was a bold move for our narrator. However, what was more of a change was that the speech was in favor of not evicting the old couple we can see that the narrator is becoming more rebellious than never. Conversely, one can argue that this is not a change, but a continuation of the narrator's actions. Back in the battle royal scene of the novel, the narraotr gave a speech on humility and social responsibility. That was also a bold move for the crowd he was giving the speech in front of. Monday: May 14th (Pg 295-332) 1.) Identity- Inside...no other. (Pg 309) 2.) Invisibility - For a moment...at me? (Pg 312) 3.) Racism- I looked...the newspapers. (Pg 306) The most obvious change with the narrator in this chapter is the change from his choice to not be the spokes person for the Harlem Brotherhood and then look into it when he goes to the cocktail party on Lenox Avenue. However, this holds a deeper significance for the change in his personality overall. He is learning self reliance. From realized that Mary has been housing/feeding him, to realizing that he needs the job of being the spokesperson to house himself, he is truly growing as an individual. However, there is still a continuation of a complacency where the narrator lets his identity be defined for him. This is illustrated when Jack informs him that he must change his name and break all ties with his past. Chapter 15 indicates a continuation of the narrator's want for living a life that is socially significant. In the south, it was when he wanted to be a good obedient slave, but in the nort, it is by giving passionate public speeches for rallies for the brotherhood. However, the shattering of the black slave statue indicates the love hate relationship that has developed between the narrator and the brotherhood. By being the brotherhood's advocate, he allows himself to be seen as a poster child for them that is made up of abstract blackness. This is not much different than serving of the poster child when driving around Mr. Norton for the future of all black males in the college in the south. He still has a continuing persona of wanting to be significant in the social world that has not changed his tactics, even if it has changed his actions from more conservative to bold. Tuesday: May 15th (Pg 333-355) 1.) Racism - 'Yes, we're the uncommon...don't bother me!' (Pg 342-343) 2.) Invisibility- They think we're...uncommon sight. (Pg 343) 3.) Identity - Even my technique...disintegeration? (pg 353) We see the continuation of the metaphor of the blindness that is still haunting the narrator. This is illustrated by the metaphor of blindness in combination with the dichotomy of we and they he uses in his speech at the rally at the boxing ring. This is a continuation of the blindness that he was in when he was in college represented by the statue of the founder, with the veil being either taken off or put on the slave. This is no different; he is in the blindness of the brotherhood and all of their values. I think this is bad because there is no judgement coming from the narrator himself, rather, he is still continuing to do exactly what he is told whether it is from the black man or the white man. He is still blind under a different set of values. He still fails to see the differences between the education that Brother Hambro gives and the one that he got in college they are both constructed by an allegiance to a different ideology. In the south, it was allegiance to an ideology for the white people, but in Harlem, it's your head bowed to an ideology for the advancement of the people. Each of these ideologies differently formulate the identity of the narrator.

However, nothing really changes. The narrator blindly follows each without having an input of his own. He is still the same complacent obedient slave.