Make-Up Blog: Invisible Man

I like the fact that the narrator of Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man is unnamed; besides being fitting to the title and meaning of the work, this identity disconnect makes me really identify with his character- I feel like I am him rather than an interested spectator standing beside him. I most appreciate viewing the novel’s characters from the mind of the protagonist and considering how my opinion of the narrator affects my perception of the other characters. Because I’m still not too far into the novel, I haven’t formed a definite opinion on the narrator (whether I like him, trust his reliability, agree with him) – actually, I’ve gotten annoyed at his naiveté a couple of times. I’ve enjoyed forming an opinion about Mr. Norton while the narrator drives the rich man around campus, comparing the two characters, and considering how the two will interact with one another later in the novel.

Mr. Norton is a curious character to consider; when I first met him he seemed to be rather inconsequential- more of a force of power and money than an actual person. The narrator clearly felt similarly, as he seemed to look to Mr. Norton with admiring fear, though he infantilized the man like an idiot (which Mr. Norton very well may be). I’m not sure if that’s due to Ellison’s perception of race relations, if the narrator is a genius, if Mr. Norton is an imbecile, or some combination of these explanations. Whatever the reason, the narrator quietly disregards Mr. Norton’s ramblings and submissively answers his lunacy with, “I think I understand you better, now, sir” (Ellison 45). He is a perfect actor for his role and both are objects to each other. Throughout their disastrous trip, neither can relate to the other as an actual human being. Mr. Norton sees the narrator as the fruit of his labor, one of “three hundred teachers, seven hundred trained mechanics, eight hundred skilled farmers” (Ellison 45) that Mr. Norton has become through his philanthropy; the narrator, as I intimated already, views Mr. Norton only as a faceless supplier of money and his future.

They differ in personality, age, intelligence, and race- I think that these factors coincide so that the two are opposites; Mr. Norton foils the narrator by blustering arrogantly about his legacy as the narrator drifts mentally in silence. Besides this mental difference, they’ve been trained by society to dehumanize the others. Mr. Norton is taught to view the narrator as a product, and though he pretends to more liberal intentions, the narrator is more or less a talking cow to him. Conversely, the narrator is taught that white people like Mr. Norton are dangerous. He is encouraged by society to put on a show for the man so that he can get what he wants- in the narrator’s case, an education.

I think the two men, as foils, are going to be significant later in the novel. Even if Mr. Norton drifts out of the narrator’s life (and this is likely, since he appears to be quite flaky and unhealthy), someone like him will replace Mr. Norton. I’m sure that Mr. Norton will meet another young student like the narrator and see him as exactly the same person – or product.