the significance of mr

8/3/2019 The Significance of Mr

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An Oral Presentation and ClassDiscussion by Claire Cooper


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A face pink like St. Nicholas, topped with a

shock of silk white hair. An easy informal

manner, even with me. A Bostonian, smoker of

cigars, teller of polite Negro stories, shrewdbanker, skilled scientist, director, philanthropist,

forty years a bearer of the white mans burden,

and for sixty a symbol of the Great Traditions.

Ellison. 37.

His voice was mellow and loaded with more

meaning than I could fathom. Ellison. 39.


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So you see young man, you are involved in my

life quite intimately, even though youve never

seen me beforewhatever you become, and

even if you fail, you are my fate.My feelings were mixed. Was he kidding

me? Was he talking to me like someone in a

book just to see how I would take it? Or could it

be, that this rich man was just the tiniest bit

crazy? How could I tell him his fate. Ellison. 43-

44.


4/11

What is the motivation tied in to this statement?

Does Mr. Norton really believe that he and

Invisible Mans fates are linked somehow?

Mr. Norton is the cause of Invisible Mans

expulsion from college and his journey in New

York. Technically their fates were linked but

what sort of fate is Mr. Norton speaking of?


5/11

You did and are unharmed! he shouted,

his blue eyes blazing into the black face

with something like envy andindignation. Ellison. 51

Here he said, extending a banknote.

Please take this and buy the childrensome toys for me. Ellison. 69


6/11

What provokes Mr. Nortons interest in JimTrueblood? Mr. Norton says earlier that hismotivation in life is his daughter who

passed away. Why would he have sympathyfor someone who committed a crime likeTruebloods?

Why does he, a white man, donate money to

someone who has been shunned by eventhe black community? Is he motivated by hismorality, a connection with Jim Trueblood,or his superiority and prejudice.


7/11

It was Mr. Nortonseeing him made all theold life live in me for an instant, and I smiled

with tear stinging eyes. Ellison. 577-578

Because Im your destiny, I made you. Whyshouldnt I know you? I said walking closerand seeing him back against a pillar.Helooked around like a cornered animal.He

thought I was mad. Dont be afraid Mr.Norton, I said. Theres a guard down at theplatform there. Youre safe. Take any train;they all go to the Golden Day. Ellison. 578


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After all the horrible experiences Invisible

man has faced throughout the novel, the

moment when Mr. Norton doesn't recognize

him is when he is pushed over the edge.

To invisible Man, Mr. Norton served as

evidence that he actually mattered and had

some sort of purpose.He was dependent on

this as a form of identity. When he loses this,

it drives him to insanity.


9/11

I had no longer to run for or from theJacks and the Emersons and the Bledsoesand Nortons. Ellison. 559

Was Mr. Norton a manipulator like Bledsoeand Brother Jack? Why did Ellison bringhis character back in the epilogue ratherthan any other manipulating character?How does he connect to Grandfathersadvice?


10/11

Though Mr. Norton only appeared in the novelbriefly, he has the most significant impacton Invisible Mans life out of all the

characters. Whether it was intentional toNorton or not, their fates were linked.

Mr. Norton is the reason why Invisible Manends up in his current unsettling

circumstances. Would he and his identity bebetter off if he was never expelled from theuniversity?


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Consider This:

And now all past humiliations became

precious parts of my experience, and for the first

timeI began to accept my past and, as I accepted

it, I felt memories welling up within me. It was as

though Id learned suddenly to look around the

corners; images of past humiliations flickeredthrough my head and I saw that they were more

than separate experiences. They were me, they

defined me. I was my experiences and my

experiences were me, and no blind men, no matterhow powerful they became, even if they conquered

the world could take that, or change one single itch

, taunt, laugh, cry, scar, ache, rage or pain of it.

Ellison. 507-508

the significance of mr

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