Chapters 24Epilogue Sarah Caton, Grace Eicher, Remi Goetzke, and Kara Crevier Title: The Nature of a Reality The saying comes from page 559 from the quote And that I, a little black man with an assumed name should die because a big black man in his hatred and confusion over the nature of a reality that seemed controlled solely by white men whom I knew to be as blind as he, was just too much, too outrageously absurd. The narrator realizes that the white people are not really trying to get to know much about the black people s character or identity or see their side of things, just like what Ras is doing to the narrator, but they still feel the need to control situations their own way. Nature represents how life naturally unfolds, and sometimes, events and their outcomes are beyond our control. Reality signifies how the narrator has recognized that he needs to become visible and stand up for himself and his rights, and now he finally is taking action and expressing his feelings. Also on page 559, the narrator says I knew that it was better to live out one s own absurdity than to die for that of others. Here, he is explaining how each individual or group has their own version of reality and how he knows he ll die eventually, but he refuses to die because of this riot. The narrator concludes his story in these chapters, and this title explains how by living out the adventures at the battle royal, the college, and in New York have made the narrator the man he is at the end of the novel, which is a man who has lived through hardships and who now knows that he has the ability to have an opinion and fight for himself and his life. CHapter 24 Quotes and Notes Sarah Caton I started yessing them the next day and it began beautifully Crowds formed at the slightest of incidents. Store windows were smashed and several clashes erupted during the morning (Ellison 513) during the morning foreshadows the violence in the coming chapters By him yessing and all of these things happening it makes him feel more important because the way he writes it, it sounds like it happened because of the small things he did He wants the violence because he is going against what he thinks the brotherhood wanted. He wants to go against the brotherhood because they don t want or need his opinion, they just need him to gather followers (because of his race) Narrator gives the brotherhood a list of fake names and tells them it is a list of new members. Again, going against the brotherhood
Makes him believe he is really important by tricking the brotherhood Wants to do this because they tricked him Another of way of yessing the white people Sybil and Narrator find each other which was to be followed by a public celebration the next evening we weren t noticed (Ellison 516) Two people who are invisible wanting to be seen find each other and believe they are important to the other Both are just so desperate to be seen, they will do anything She sees him as another black man can t get a powerful white man, so she pretends he is powerful He sees her as freedom (referring back to woman at battle royal) but a cheap version of it. She is another allamerican girl who is married to a powerful man of the brotherhood. He is settling for fake freedom of his hole. She is settling for a less powerful Blackman just to not be invisible Narrator writes a message on Sybil s stomach with lipstick. Make him feel uninvisible, but when he erases it, it shows him fighting backandforth and trying to decide if he wants to be invisible or not Also erases it because he knew what they were doing was wrong... although they never really did anything Red items are found throughout the chapter red imprint (Ellison 516). strawberries (Ellison 518). Santa Claus (Ellison 522). red fingernails (Ellison 526). red, oily nails (Ellison 527). red light of warning (Ellison 532). Etc. Red = freedom (vibrant bright colors) The more red he sees the closer he gets to crawling into his freedom the hole Red= violence the more red he sees the closer he is to the physical violence in Harlem Red= communism the more red he sees the more communism is taking over Harlem Hear the true affection, I thought, the adoration of the boogie bear moving away What d either mean? I am invisible (Ellison 529). We truly hear the despair in the narrator s voice All he wants is to be seen and important, but he can t even get that from a cheating woman Everyone is lying about seeing him Everyone is using him Woman needed him for romance, brotherhood needs him to gain members, Mary needs him for rent, Paint Company needed him for labor, College needed him for their reputation, white power needed him for entertainment.
I ran blindly, boiling with outrage and despair and harsh laughter. Running from the birds, to what, I didn t know. I ran. Why was I here at all? I ran through the night, ran within myself. Ran. (Ellison 534) Running to and from freedom. He has lost himself. He is stuck. Foreshadows future Chapter 25 section 1 Grace Eicher The narrator is accidentally shot by a policeman during the rioting and sees a dead man in the street that everyone was working around. At this point the narrator realizes that could have been him if the bullet wound was more serious. He also recognizes the dead man by name, but does not share his identity with the reader. This represents a theme of invisibility where people choose to see but overlook. When opening his briefcase, the narrator drops his brotherhood identification, Clifton s doll, and the anonymous letter. At this point he also remembers Mary s broken bank and coins. Mary s broken bank was designed to look like a smiling black man. It represented a negative stereotype of black people. The narrator carries the bank and coins, but wants to throw it away. It s like he carries this negative stereotype, but at the same time he wants to get rid of it. By dropping the items related to the brotherhood while opening his briefcase, it shows that he is about to let go of being part of the committee. His identity will soon change to invisibility. I laughed with the others, thinking: A holy holiday for Clifton (Ellison 544). This quote shows that the brotherhood was setting people up and manipulating them. The violence was taking place because people like Ras were angered by the brotherhood and how instead of helping blacks like they claimed, their ideas led to negative things like Clifton s death. Ras and his followers felt they had been treated poorly by whites so long that they wanted black supremacy as a form of revenge. The narrator follows the plan of Dupre and Scofield by helping them burn down the apartment buildings. They threw coal on the floor and started fire. This is one of the most important events of the first section of chapter 25. The narrator questioned why they would want to burn down the place where they live. I reply, Scofield says You call this living? It s the only way to get rid of it man... on page 545. This shows that they are tired of living below people and plan on changing that. The narrator left his briefcase in the burning building, but went back to get it. The briefcase holding his brotherhood identification, Clifton s doll, and the letter had been ruined by the fire. The briefcase had damage like his relationship with the committee. This may symbolize the narrator s time ending with the brotherhood. The brotherhood had set up the narrator all along. The committee had planned it. And I had helped, had been a tool. A tool just at the very moment I had thought myself free (Ellison 553). This event and quote tie together. When the narrator originally became part of the committee, he felt he was visible and being seen as more than just a stereotype of a black man. At this point he realizes the brotherhood used him like a pawn when he thought he was finally
doing well and breaking free of the typical negative black stereotypes. Once he acknowledges reality, he starts to become invisible. Chapter 25section 2 Kara Crevier The narrator stumbled upon a room with lynched mannequins. He questions whether the mannequins are real people or not, relates to how the narrator feels about his visibility. Ras the Exhorter becomes Ras the Destroyer Ras is no longer just cautioning and giving advice, he has decided to use violence to get his point across to the black community....and I faced him, knowing I was no worse than he, nor any better, and that all the months of illusion and the night of chaos required but a few simple words, a mild, even a meek, muted action to clear the air. To awaken them and me (Ellison 557). Also could mean white people are no better and no worse than the blacks. The narrator is attempting to make himself more visible as he explains his reasons for leaving the brotherhood. References the dream of his grandfather saying keep this boy running, and by waking up, the narrator is trying to stop his journey and become a person aside of who is grandfather has shaped him to be. Even after the narrator pleads and begs for Ras not to lynch him, the Destroyer insists on his death. On page 558, the narrator says it seemed unreal and then describes Ras as a madman in a foreign costume who was real and yet unreal... Narrator is simply in shock that a man of the same skin color wants to kill him, but also that Ras is blaming him for all of the brotherhood s doing even though it was all beyond his control. The narrator runs away from the mob and the police through dark streets. He falls into a man hole that is so dark he can not see anything, and no one would be able to see him either. The fact that the narrator is in an actual hole under ground only emphasizes the fact that he is literally invisible at this point in the story. Being underground is a symbol of hiding and secluding oneself from others which also goes along with the invisibility of the narrator. This is the way it s always been, only now I know it. (pg 566)
This quote signifies the narrator s confirmation of his invisibility. He knows that no one would miss him or even look for him after he s gone missing. Great invisible waves of time flowed over me... (pg 567) The narrator loses track of time, and decides it s time for him to find his way out of the man hole. He burns the contents of his briefcase in order to see an escape. First he burns his diploma which was one of his most prized possessions since graduating high school made him slightly less invisible since he had an education. Next he burns the Clifton doll, which is ridding him of his brotherhood ties and memories. Then he burns the papers with his brotherhood name on it and the anonymous and realizes that it s Brother Jack s handwriting, this represents how people in the narrator s life have been showing him ways to advance and better his life, but in the end they end up burning him and he continues to run, just like his grandfather wanted. The narrator dreams of being prisoner of Jack, Emerson, Bledsoe, Norton, and Ras, he explains how they all have run him. In his dream, the narrator sees a sparkling butterfly emerge out of his body. The butterfly represents the narrator s metamorphosis throughout the novel. His figurative cocoon is made up of all the characters who have shaped the narrator s identity and his life. The narrator felt safe in his cocoon because he always seemed to have someone by his side telling him what to do and how to do it. Once he broke free of the cocoon, after being asked how does it feel to be free of one s illusions? (the illusions being all of the ways his identity had been manipulated by others), the narrator replied Painful and empty (page 569). He then laughs and says At a price, I now see that which I couldn t see (page 570). This means the narrator has been allowing himself to be hurt by Jack, Emerson, Bledsoe, Nortan, Ras, and his Grandfather multiple times before finally realizing that they were running him. NO. I m through with all your illusions and I m through running. The dream the narrator has ties back with his dream from the first chapter about his grandfather saying keep this boy running. It is a conclusion of the story, especially now that he has stood his ground and refused to continue running. He says the faces of the men in the dream were vivid and under a spotlight, this is because all of these men have in one way or another tried to shape the narrator s identity. He finally realizes how invisible he really was to the people he once thought cared about him, which halts his desire to leave the man hole so quickly. Epilogue Notes Remi Goetzke Narrator admits his awareness to invisibility Narrator admits that he went against his beliefs to satisfy others, and also yessed the white people
Narrator acknowledges the last words of his dying grandfather Page 573 kept me running quote a connection to the Chapter 1 dream? Narrator recalls stumbling upon a lost Mr. Norton (This is ironic because, throughout the entire book of him being invisible, when he figures out that he was invisible all along, another event happens to where he isn t just metaphorically invisible. Mr. Norton has no clue at all to who the narrator is, lessening his importance. You go along for years knowing something is wrong, then suddenly you discover you re transparent as air (Ellison 575). This quote goes along with the narrator recognizing that he has been looked past and laughed at all his life Ending Kara Crevier The narrator concludes the novel by saying the end is the beginning. The fact that the novel works in a circular, continuous way emphasizes the whole concept of running. The narrator was forced to run from the beginning, and after recognizing that he wanted to stop running, he sees that he isn t able to. The way the author chose to end the novel showcases the narrator s struggle to get where he wants to be in life and that no matter how hard he tries, he won t get anywhere.