The
narrator of Invisible Man—at least
initially—is a budding member of the educated black class, or “conscientious
elite” on the black respectability wheel (shout-out to Mr. Sutton). In the
context of 1920’s America, that seemed a great place to be for any black man
who grew up poor. But as he does repeatedly throughout the novel, Ellison pulls
the rug out from under readers to expose just how cutthroat and fragile the
obtainment and maintenance of power for black people really is, especially in
the education system. The main insights of this dynamic we get in Invisible Man are that of the budding
scholar (the Narrator), and the longtime power-holder (Bledsoe). Through these
two figures, we come to understand the self-destructive cycle of black
education; with the little success that the African-American community gets comes
a pressing need to maintain that prestige, which turns successful black people
against the lower, poorer classes for “dragging them down”, and creates a
mutual dislike from the lower classes and an even lower reputation for the race
as a whole, ending in even fewer black successes.
The
first picture—in the Narrator’s own depiction at least—we get of our
protagonist is one that “schools” his way to privilege coming out of high
school. He will deliver a speech and be presented with a scholarship to a
University by the school officials, but only once he finishes a disgusting
Battle Royal, and with a bloody mouth at that. Though it is clear that the
white educators think very little of him, he still goes along with all of their
scheme, and still believes that they are doing what’s best for him. Because in
the case of the Narrator, the way he succeeded was by believing in the oppressive system that allowed him extensive
education. But as he soon learns from Bledsoe, (and his grandpa!) the way to
maintain this power is to play along with the system, but never to believe in
it, and vanquish anything that could possibly harm it. After the Narrator comes
back from his escapade with Mr Norton, Bledsoe is absolutely furious to both
his unawareness of gaming the system and the threat he poses to Bledsoe and the
whole college. “You’re black and living in the south, did you forget to lie!”
Bledsoe exclaims, “the only way to please a white man is to tell him a lie!” (139).
Bledsoe is intimately familiar with how fragile his power really is, and the
Narrator’s incompetency with the system is promptly rewarded with expulsion
from the college. The Narrator’s college experience and encounter with Bledsoe
inform the beginning of this cycle.
Ellison
also shows the class conflict within African-American elite and working/poor class.
For one, the Narrator holds serious contempt for lower class black people, such
as Trueblood, the Vet, and even his own grandparents at one point. After him
and Norton exit from the Golden Day, he becomes intensely apologetic for
everything they had seen:
I
wanted to stop the car and talk with Mr. Norton, to beg his pardon for what he
had seen; to plead and show him tears, unashamed tears like those of a child
before his parent; to denounce all we’d seen and heard; to assure him that far
from being like any of the people we had seen, I hated them, that I believed in the principles of the Founder with
all my heart and soul (…) (99)
Clearly,
the Narrator in this instance is completely caught in the cycle; his need to
maintain success makes him want to grovel in front of this white donor, and
show just how much he hates unhinged black people unlike himself. Bledsoe holds
this cutthroat mentality as well, to an even farther extreme:
“I’ve
made my place (...) and I’ll have every Negro in the country hanging on tree
limbs if it means staying where I am” (143).
This
is just a small glimpse into the cycle Invisible
Man eludes to. Thanks to the whitewashing system of education, one can see
how much cyclical harm can be inflicted on the black community, literally
turning them against each other and preventing further access to power. What
Ellison demonstrates is not a race combining to “wear the mask” of invisibility
for the greater good, but only individuals coming to wear it in power in
increasingly fewer numbers.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with many of the ideas expressed in this blog post. The Narrator by playing into this cycle of oppression in effort to overcome it, inadvertently perpetuates it. Although he thinks that he's just bearing a burden that will eventually grant him success, in actuality he's feeding the racist mindsets of the whites through his submission which will condemn other blacks. The narrator has this belief that he is different from people like Trueblood but in the eyes of the wealthy whites, there is minimal difference. Their identities are completely tied up with their race.
ReplyDeleteEllison almost seems to suggest not just that power is fragile for the black community, but that there is no power for them to have altogether. The Narrator takes almost little to no time talking about education, which suggests that education for black people is a lie, removing one of the only paths people can take to become successful and powerful. And then, the only black person in a position of power that we see is Bledsoe, who still bends and scrapes to the white man. Perhaps even Bledsoe is still living a lie, unable to see that his "playing the game" will never result in any true power. One of the black people we see not bending the knee to the white man is the vet, who despite being ultimately free in his mind, is in the lowest position possible in terms of power dynamics. Same goes for Trueblood, who is happy to live his own life carefree from worries about white people, but with two children on the way and a ratty house.
ReplyDeleteBledsoe does have a considerable amount of power, in the case that power is defined as the ability to control events and people. Bledsoe can snap his fingers and have a long time occupant of the insane asylum to sent packing.
DeleteWhile Bledsoe is powerful, he lacks freedom to speak and act as he wants. The mask Bledsoe must wear in the presence of the white men restricts him. In fact, Bledsoe is the very opposite of the Vet.
We also see that the narrator's speeches arent really all that great, showing that although he is educated, he is maybe being failed by the system even more by not giving him as much of an education as he deserves. The narrator claims that his classes havent gotten to Emerson yet, but is it possible they would never get there? What if the colleges are purposefully not teaching self reliance to keep everyone down..
ReplyDeleteI like the phrase that the author "pulls a rug out from under our feet" it is illustrious of the kind of shock factor of the system you discuss. Bledoe's and the dying grandpa's character are both unexpectedly intense and are a really good tool for the author.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to consider how we view the narrator's "re-education" under the tutelage of Brother Hambro (I almost wrote "Kimbro"!) in this light. At first, he's annoyed, as he often is at this point in the novel when others are making him do things, about having to go "back to school." But then he depicts Hambro's teaching in pretty positive terms: it doesn't seem like an "indoctrination" in Brotherhood ideology, but a rigorous, reading-and-discussion-based seminar in ideas, where the narrator describes engaging in far-reaching, exhausting critical discussions that are far more demanding than anything he's done at college. And if we read the B'hood as communist, they clearly represent the opposite end of "respectability" from Bledsoe--this is education (presumably) designed to upset the status quo and incite revolution. There is an irony in the newly minted identity leading the narrator "back to school," but it does seem like he benefits from this process.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy the points you bring up in this post, and how well your quotes from the book align with what you're saying. I think the argument you're developing here is quite difficult to grasp. Black people want opportunities open to them, and they want to be seen as equals and to be successful in life just like anyone else. At the same time the types of oppression we face make it difficult for us to be given opportunities for a better life, so it becomes easy to resent these things that we are so blatantly denied. Because of this there are these inconsistencies. Black people understand the importance of education, but education is so "whitewashed" as you say, that it is almost considered a betrayal to the race if you are well educated ("acting white" as it is often put) The paradoxes here are endless, so I think you do a good job of dipping into what is a very complex issue within the context of the novel and the black community.
ReplyDeleteThat was a very well written post, and it really condensed a lot of what we talked about in class into a short and concise exploration of the world of education we find the Narrator in. I think it was interesting looking at how many times the Narrator had to be told to 'game the system' before he actually decides to.
ReplyDelete