Invisible Man: Submission One. The author s use of second person point of view in the passage above serves to establish a

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1 Last Name 1 Your Name Mr. Stansberry AP Literature and Composition 5 October 2012 Invisible Man: Submission One Tone Meanwhile I enjoy my life with the compliments of Monopolated Light & Power. Since you never recognize me even when in closest contact with me, and since, no doubt, you ll hardly believe that I exist, it won t matter if you know that I tapped a power line leading into the building and ran it into my hole in the ground. Before that I lived in the darkness into which I was chased, but now I see. I ve illuminated the blackness of my invisibility- and vice versa. And so I play the invisible music of my isolation. The last statement doesn t seem just right does it? But it is; you hear this music simply because music is heard and seldom seen, except by musicians. Could this compulsion to put invisibility down in black and white be thus an urge to make music of invisibility? But I am an orator, a rabble rouser- Am? I was, and perhaps shall be again. Who knows? All sickness is not unto death, neither is invisibility. (Ellison13) The author s use of second person point of view in the passage above serves to establish a connection with the reader. By specifically addressing the reader the narrator is able to generate sympathy for his plight. The excerpt contains repeated images of light that are contrasted to darkness as a symbolic representation of knowledge and ignorance. This repetition foreshadows the ideas that will be explored later in the text. The idea of invisibility is also repeated throughout the passage as the narrator attempts to convey his frustration with the society in which he is living. The frequent use of words related to darkness, light, and invisibility in the passage provides the reader with a consistent and antithetical image that relays the callous and embittered tone. Although the reasons have yet to be revealed, from the passage the reader gleans a clear understanding of the narrator s somewhat caustic outlook on the society he lives in.

2 Last Name 2 Setting We were passing a collection of shacks and log cabins now, bleached white and warped by the weather. Sun-tortured shingles lay on the roofs life decks of water-soaked cards spread out to dry. The houses consisted of two square rooms joined together by a common floor and roof with a porch in between. As we passed we could look through to the fields beyond. I stopped the car at his excited command in front of a house set off from the rest. Is that a log cabin? It is, sir, I said. That one and the other two like it were built during slavery times. You don t say! I would never have believed that they were so enduring. Since slavery times! (46) The scenery depicted in this passage is described through the author s use of vivid imagery that is further intensified by the use of similes. The dialogue between the narrator and Mr. Norton also serves to characterize the landscape of the rural areas surrounding the college by indicating how the characters are each interpreting their surroundings. Mr. Norton seems shocked that such a place still exists in a world he has so fervently attempted to rid of any inkling of times past. The venture into the countryside disrupts Norton s view of a perfect place. The log cabin and its inhabitants reveal what was being covered up at the college and in society in general. The descriptions of setting in this passage provide insight into the raging conflicts over racial relations in the South. Conflict And then she began to dance, a slow sensuous movement; the smoke of a hundred cigars clinging to her like the thinnest of veils. She seemed like a fair bird-girl girdled in veils calling to me from the angry surface of some gray and threatening sea. I was transported. Then I became aware of the clarinet playing and the big shots yelling at us. Some threatened us if we looked and others if we did not. On my right I saw one boy faint. And now a man grabbed a silver pitcher from a table and stepped close as he dashed iced water upon him and stood him up and forced two of us to support him as his head hung and moans issued from his thick bluish lips. Another boy began to plead to go home. He was the largest of the group, wearing dark red fighting trunks much too small to conceal the erection which projected from him as though in answer to the insinuating low-registered moaning of the clarinet. He tried to hide himself with his boxing gloves. (19) The conflict depicted in this exert is symbolic of the conflict experienced everyday by black members of society during this time period. The young black men experience internal conflict of how to behave in their current situation that is met with external conflict that

3 Last Name 3 resonates from their antagonizing white hosts. The imagery and diction used in the passage serves most noticeably to convey a sense of this conflict to the reader. The tensions in the scene reveal the much more extensive racial tensions present throughout the country during the Harlem Renaissance. The writing epitomizes racial stereotypes as the black men in the scene are manipulated like marionettes on strings much as they are in life through institutions like the college that they revere. They yearn to escape and attempt to hide themselves in the same manner that will eventually cause each of them to become invisible members of a society dominated by the white man. Homily I say to you, pattern yourselves upon him. Aspire, each of you, to some day follow in his footsteps. Great deeds are yet to be performed. For we are a young, though a fast-rising, people. Legends are still to be created. Be not afraid to undertake the burdens of your leader, and the work of the Founder will be one of ever unfolding glory, the history of the race a saga of mounting triumphs. (33) Every week in chapel the black students attending the college submit to listening to endless speeches on religion, morals, and the future. As depicted in the novel, these speeches are merely tools the institution uses to further brainwash is inhabitants, something the narrator has begun to realize for the first time as he listens to Barbee s speech above. The speech is intended to reassure the students of their paths and their ambitions: Barbee is the Sheppard of the flock. After his encounter with Dr. Bledsoe however, the narrator s eyes and ears are opened in a way that allows him to more objectively evaluate the flaws of the society he lives in. The speech is ironic in encourage its young black listeners in that it seems to be conveying a message that encourages assimilation as a path to success. This reveals how the society has become corrupt because it has begun equating education with assimilation. Barbee s speech endorses

4 Last Name 4 stereotypical race roles and when the reader later discovers his blindness they are forced to confront the idea that his blindness may not only be a physical ailment. Vocabulary It was a dream fall, my body languid and fastidious as to where to land, until the floor became impatient and smashed up to meet me (25). Fastidious- requiring or characterized by excessive care or delicacy; painstaking Assignments can take far longer to complete when a student is fastidious, but the extra time pays off when it is reflected in the student s grade. We of the younger generation extol the wisdom of that great leader and educator (29). Extol- to praise highly; laud; eulogize Benevolent teachers extol the hard work of their students in the form of good grades. All had to be said, each memorized nuance considered, rendered (30). Nuance- a subtle difference or distinction in expression, meaning, response In order to be received correctly, facetiousness relies heavily on the speaker s attention to nuance. He seemed surprised and confounded (47). Confounded- bewildered; confused; perplexed Teachers unintelligible scrawls often leave students confounded upon receiving graded work.

5 Last Name 5 I didn t like it, for when he was upstairs they had absolutely no inhibitions (76). Inhibitions- inner controls that prevent a person from engaging in certain types of behavior Productive class discussions require participants to posses some small amount of verbal inhibitions.