Towards the end of Invisible Man the narrator adopts the persona of Rinehart, and several people mistake him as such. Also around the same time he has an affair with a Brotherhood member named Sybil. In both of those instances, the narrator uses the fact that he has a fake identity to get away with what he is doing. In these cases, does the narrator's invisibility act as a tool that the narrator uses to have his way? Along the same lines, does the narrator even know his invisibility is being used this way. By this point in the book the narrator does sort of know he is "invisible", but hasn't said much about it and hasn't given it a proper name. This use of his "thousand faces" could help him "agree them[whites] to death", but the narrator seems to only use it to survive and not get caught by certain people. What are your opinions on the "thousand faces" interpretation, and are there any other clear examples of other times he's explicitly used his invisibility for gain?
I've said it once and I'll say it again. Their Eyes Were Watching God seems to me like an archetypal 19th Century British novel. Something about how the prose is structured and the events played out seemed exactly like the events we would read about in 19th Century. There are multiple suitors and each one the main character sees something in them but then they end up not liking a few of them until they meet the one they decide is right for them. Then they get into some trouble with this "perfect" suitor and this problem carries the rest of the plot. The arranged marriage also is very reminiscent of the stifling atmosphere of 19th century novels. Towards the end of the book it becomes a more modern piece (because it starts with a marriage and ends with no partner as opposed to the reverse in 19th century novels), as well as having a more progressive feminist message. Still, some deep dark part of me has a traumatic fit whenever I think of Pride and Prejudice .
I mentioned this on someone else's post, but I interpreted the narrator's time as Rinehart as like his pupal stage, a place to reform himself and come out changed. Going along with the insect metaphor, he makes his own new confusing markings to ward off predators. I think that's basically what the thousand faces mean, it's like he's creating this new way of being to confuse other people. With that, him going underground to completely emerge as his own person would suggest that he'll end up with his own "markings," independent of what others would expect from him.
ReplyDeleteI think that at this point the Narrator isn't fully aware of his invisibility and while he may be trying to harness this "power" for his own good, other people are using him in the same way. For example, his affair with Sybil had the purpose, at least in his mind, of gathering information that would help him to attack the brotherhood. At the same time, Sybil was using him for her own purposes.
ReplyDeleteThe narrator never is able to fully take advantage of anyone in the book. I don't think it's because he doesn't want to, but because he's unable to. For example, Sybil just wants him in her rape fantasy. I think it's interesting that you say that a "thousand faces" will help him follow his grandfather's advice, and I never thought of it that way. I think his invisibility prevents him from gaining anything, rather than enabling him in general, though.
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