cis invis man jour quest 4

8/2/2019 CIS Invis Man Jour Quest 4

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College in the Schools: Intro to Modern FictionInvisible Man

Writers Notebook Questions

Written in the politically and socially turbulent 1940s, Invisible Man is

one of the definitive novels of the African-American experience; it is alsoone of the definitive novels for all Americans. The issues Ellison sopowerfully addresses are those that confront everyone who lives in themodern world; not only racism but the very question of personalidentity, our frustrated impulse to assert ourselves in a world which ismetaphorically blind. Ellisons hero is invisible within the larger culturebecause he is black, but his feelings can easily be understood by allthose who experience the anonymity of modern life. (Brooke Allen,Columbia University)

The journals on Invisible Man must reflect one entry from each

of the three categories below.

I. Literary and Other Topics1. Identify three related symbols and explore what they represent

and make a connection to a larger theme of the text. (do not choosethe briefcase or other obvious symbols).

2. Explore the imagery in a given scene and explain how it evokestheme and/or authors attitude.

3. Explore how the style of a part of the text (naturalistic,expressionistic, surrealistic) shapes the readers experience and theauthors meaning.

4. Explore ways in which the narrator is unreliable. Does hechange in this regard?

5. Explore a setting of the novel and what it conveys to thereader?

6. The narrator assumes an increasing sarcastic tone as the novelprogresses. Discuss the importance of irony and sarcasm in theemerging life of the narrator.

7. Explore the complex identity of two or three secondarycharacters and the authors intended meaning.

8. Look at the authors word play in the text. I yam what I am,for example. Explore possible meanings associated with their use.

9. Trace the importance of the grandfathers words throughoutthe text. Explain his possible meaning and what they come to mean tothe narrator.

10. Identify two or three big quotes in the text and discuss theirimplications to the narrator and the rest of humanity.

11. In commenting on the structure of his novel, Ellison wrote:Each section begins with a sheet of paper; each piece of paper is

exchanged for another and contains a definition of his identity, or the


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social role he is to play as defined for him by others. But all sayessentially the same thing, Keep this nigger boy running (Shadowand Act 177). Trace the motif of written documents (diplomas, letters ofrecommendation, slave contracts, etc.) in the novel and explain thesignificance of these papers. Why are written documents so important

to the narrator, and why do they ultimately fail him?12. What is the place of women in Invisible Man? How do they fitinto the narrators philosophy or help construct his identity? You maychoose to focus on only white women (for example, the stripper, thewife of the brother, Sybil, etc.), only black women (Mary Rambo), orboth.

13. Apply a critical lens other than New Criticism that opens up anew understanding of the theme of invisibility in the novel.

II. Personal Response Topics1. Charles Johnson said that the novel deals with, Freeing

ourselves from the blinding social illusions that render races andindividuals invisible to each other. Write about a time when you wereaware of your own blindness towards others and how you did or couldhave freed yourself. Choose a line from the text to begin your journey.

2. Write about a time when you participated in your owninvisibility. Why do we do this? To what end? What is revealed aboutwho you are?

3. Write about a time when you realized you were invisible. Useconcepts from the book to shed light on your experience.

4. Write about a time when you did a Rinehart and explain itsappeal and danger. What did you come to understand and how did you

move to a new place?5. Who is made invisible in our society and how and why and

what can be done to move this group to visibility?6. Why the riot in Harlem? How does anger leading to violence

function inside and outside the text? Why the chaos in the novel andwhat does it break open? Describe a time when chaos brought you anew understanding.

7. Defend, challenge or qualify the philosophy of Brother Jack andthe Brotherhood? Describe your encounter with a group that used you.

8. How do we create a society that affirms individual dignity sothat we may all be truly visible? Give your philosophy on visibility.

9. How do memories of home and the South function in the life ofthe narrator? How do you feel about home and your roots? Whatgrounds IM and what must he flee? What grounds you and what mustyou flee?

10. What does the narrator come to understand about hisgrandfathers message? Explain a similar, meaningful message that youwere given by an adult that has come to have more meaning as yougrow older.


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11. Define identity. What complexities does the narrator strugglewith? What do you struggle with?

12. What does the narrators experience as a Black man revealabout race in America? Is this still true today? What would Ras besaying to the black man about the white man today?

Talk about someone who has plunged outside of history. Relate toTod Clifton. Explore what is gained and at what price.III. Thematic Topics

1. The town leaders at the battle royal tell the narrator, Wemean to do right by you, but youve got to know your place at all times.What kind of help are the men actually offering. What place in theworld do they plan for young black people? Is there any realbenevolence included in their wish to dominate?

2. Choose three or four important allusions in the novel andexplain the meaning and insight into the text. Be sure to explain the fullsignificance of the allusion.

3. Mr. Norton is a bearer of the white mans burden, a symbolof the Great Traditions. How does he personify the paternalistic ethos,for better or worse?

4. In the Souls of Black Folk, W.E.B. DuBois theorized that theBlack American has two selves, a white one and a black one. How doesDr. Bledsoe exemplify that principle? How does the principle cause thebreakdown of Tod Cliftons character?

5. How does the narrators vision of Mr. And Mrs. Provo, theevicted couple, differ from Brother Jacks? Do the two men have thesame difference in outlook when it comes to Tod Clifton?

6. How does Invisible Man react when he is told he will be

concentrating on the woman question? How are women as a grouptreated in the novel?

7. Invisible Man wonders what value personal integrity can havein this cynical world. Does it seem to you that it is possible to retainones integrity while dealing with the likes of D. Bledsoe or Brother Jack?Do any of the books characters in fact retain their integrity?

8. At the end of the novel, Invisible Man says, Whence all thispassion toward conformity anyway? diversity is the word. Let mankeep his many parts and youll have no tyrant states. Why if they followthis conformity business theyll end up forcing me, an invisible man, tobecome white, which is not a color at all but a lack of oneAmerica is

woven of many strands; I would recognize them and let it so remain.The debate between the value of diversity and conformity orconsensus- is still very much alive today, more than forty years after theappearance of Invisible Man. What contribution does the novel make tothis cultural debate?

9. Does the narrator in Invisible Man evolve to a new moralconsciousness throughout the novel? Has he established anindependent sense of identity by the novels end? If so, why does he


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hibernate from the world? Pay special attention to the prologue andepilogue as you construct your answer.

10. The book is one long ironic joke wherein the trickster trickseven himself. Explain.

11. What is "the principle"? How does the narrator's understanding

of his grandfather's words change over time?

cis invis man jour quest 4

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