The Invisible Man in Search for Identity
...mity in the white world. His speech earns him a scholarship to a university, but he only learns at a superficial level, remaining in denial as to the social situation of his people. Believing that the only way to black progress is to take the white man’s hand, he forms the idea in his mind that the white force has set out to help the black masses. This is best seen in the way he regards a trustee of the school, Mr. Norton. “I had believed in his [Mr. Norton’s] own goodness and kindness in extending the hand of his benevolence to helping us poor, ignorant people out of the mire and darkness. I would do his bidding and teach others to rise up as he wished them to, teach them to be thrifty, decent, upright citizens, contributing to the welfare of all, shunning all but the straight and narrow path that he and the Founder had stretched before us,”(97). The narrator is in denial and does not want to accept his affinity with the “ignorant masses.” The encounter with Mr. Norton, however, changes the course of the narrator’s life as he takes the trustee on a disastrous tour of the city and opens him up to the true life of the slums. This incident serves to expel the narrator from the university based on the fact that he had disgraced the school with the sights he had shown. The narrator, who had only taken orders from the trustee as he drove, was accused of not knowing “the difference between the way things are and the way things are supposed to be,”(139). Instead of accepting the truth and reality of his identity, the narrator chooses to remain in denial and blindness as he is reluctant to eschew his ignorance. In his confused state, the narrator moves to New York in order to start a new beginning for himself. While there, he tries to identify with the black community and this aids in the defining of his true identity. However, in becoming active in the black community, he only shifts from being a tool for the whites, to being a tool for the blacks in shaping their desires and goals. While in the new city, the narrator joins a local black organization, called the Brotherhood, receiving a new name, identity, and becoming its chief orator. The narrator feels that in gaining power over the black community, his sense of purpose and identity will be confirmed. However, his role as an activist without the grasp of his own identity or the whole reality of the situation of his people, only leads him down another blind path. The narrator is unaware that he is being used as a tool to drive the masses, and that his speeches and actions are being heavily monitored and directed by the organization. Losing sight of his true audience, he is inevitably sucked into the life of power and egotism. In the end, he gets caught up in a power struggle between influential members of the organization, and has to run to save his life. Once again, the narrator has fallen into the trap of believing that his conformity to the beliefs of others will confirm his identity and purpose in life. The true problem, however, lies in the fact that the narrator has not attempted to look within himself to answer the question of his identity. This problem is solved, however, when the narrator accidently falls into a coal cellar and is forced to finally allow his mind to think freely. As a result of his situation, the narrator takes into account all that has happened to him and comes to the realization that the only way to live is to accept ...