Chapter 20:
Grace Vavra
1. The first event in the chapter is when the Narrator goes to the bar and he
sees two guys at the bar that he has seen around before and he goes up
to them and says “Good Evening, brother”, and that upsets one of the men
and that confuses the Narrator. to the Narrator greeting someone by
saying brother is just a simple greeting and when they guy takes offense,
that makes the Narrator think twice about saying that to another person.
2. The second event is when the Narrator goes and tries to find Clifton. and
the only way he knew how to get a hold of him was to go to the only
person that he trusted and that was Brother Tarp. When the Narrator
goes to the district, no one is there and that makes the Narrator think
about the priorities of the brotherhood, and why no one is there.
3. The third event is when the Narrator does not get invited to the meeting at
headquarters and he gets very upset. He doesn’t understand why he
didn’t get a call. This really starts to make the Narrator think and wonder
about the brotherhood. he starts to see between the lines of the
brotherhood and what they are possibly trying to hide. He thought he was
apart of the brotherhood, turns out he isn’t.
4. The fourth event is when the Narrator finds Clifton selling Sambo dolls.
this really offends the Narrator and it upsets him. in a way he feels like
Clifton is mocking him and then rest in the brotherhood. the sambo doll
represents all the blacks in the brotherhood and the whites are the ones
controlling them. that is what the doll is about. the only way to make it
move is if someone has a hold of the string and making it move,
controlling every move that they make. then at the end of that event,
Clifton gets shot. and it is clear that the Narrator is upset but not for long.
he just could not understand why Clifton would go against the brotherhood
like that. why he was mocking everything they do.
5. the final event is after Clifton gets shot and then the Narrator just walks
around and then gets on an subway and just notices the weirdest things
about people. i think that he all of a sudden was not only mourning but
was stuck in a zombie like state. he was so confused about the
brotherhood and about what Clifton was doing and the message that he
was sending. i think he finally realizes that the brotherhood is not what it
apperas to be.
Chapter 21
Ashley Todd
Summary
Chapter 21 takes place right after Clifton was shot. It starts off with the narrator
returning to the office and being upset with himself for his reaction around the
doll. He knows that the Brotherhood would have disapproved and he lost the
opportunity to educate the people. Later he plans a public funeral for Clifton that
will be held at a park. The day of the precession the streets were filled with
people. Some carried signs reading, “Brother Tod Clifton Our Hope Shot Down.”
They had a band and a drum corps playing at the funeral. One of the men sang
the song “There’s a Many a Thousand Gone,” it was a song from the narrators
past and he was deeply moved by it. The narrator gave a moving speech to the
people in the crowd. At first it was hard to understand were he was going with it
but he was making a point to the people that there needs to be a change and that
what happened to Tod Clifton has happened before and will happen again if
something doesn’t change. The chapter ends with him making his way through
the crowd after the funeral.
quotes and explanations
Instinct
“I had blown up and acted personally instead of denouncing the significance of
the dolls, him, the obscene idea, and seizing the opportunity to educate the
crowd. We lost no opportunity to educate, I had failed. All I’d done was to make
them laugh all the louder…I had aided and abetted social backwardness…” (pg
445) The narrator knows that he did not represent the Brotherhood in the way he
should have. He blames himself because he did not think before he acted and
instead of explaining why the doll was degrading he made it more entertaining.
Sambo
“Clifton had been making it dance all the time and the black thread had been
invisible.”
(pg 446) The sambo doll had the allusion that it was dancing on
its own but as the narrator examined the one from his pocket he realized that
there had been a black string connected to it. The string had not been seen by
the crowd. It was invisible like the narrator. He goes unseen until the people
around him take a closer look and discover his talents. Then he becomes
entertainment and is used for his knowledge.
Power
“We had to make the most of what we had. For they had the power to use a
paper doll, first to destroy his integrity and then as an excuse for killing him.” (pg
448) The narrator looked highly upon the whites and was so focused on being
successful with the Brotherhood that he did not realize he was living a false
reality. He was a puppet and they were his masters. They controlled him and
they used him. They had the power and they killed Clifton.
Funeral
The funeral was held at a park to honor Clifton and restore his integrity. The
narrator took control and did it without the help of the Brotherhood committee. He
ended the funeral with an inspiring speech that did not contain a script or have
any rules. He was speaking for the community and to everyone. He was making
an example of Clifton’s death. He wanted people to understand that what
happened to Clifton was unreasonable but common. His speech was to make the
crowd realize that it doesn’t matter who it is. It is about how they died and why.
The unjust deaths of others have been overlooked and forgotten too easily and
he wants it to change. He refers to them all being trapped in the box…that is the
box that Tod Clifton is being buried in. To get out of it they must stop the unjust
ways and get the cops to stop forget the rhyme. The rhyme the narrator is
referring to is, “This cop had an itching finger and an eager ear for a word that
rhymed with ‘trigger.’”(pg 457) He opened they eyes of the crowd. His speech
was for Clifton and it was also for change.
Invisible Man Chapter 22 Notes
Jordan Hendrickson
“It was as though I had expected to find them there, just as in those dreams in
which I encountered my grandfather looking at me from across the dimensionless
space of a dream-room.” (pg 462)
Summary: In the very beginning of the chapter the narrator walks into the harlem
H.Q. meeting room feeling like he is in a dream like state and compares it to a
dream with his grandfather, then states that the missing feeling of surprise is a
sign of warning.
Explination: The narrator describes the feeling of being in the dream instead of
what his grandfather had to do with the dream feeling which he usually does.
When he states that the missing feeling of surprise is a warning he fails to state
what it is a warning of.
“… ’On our personal re-spon-si-bility,’ Brother Jack said, bowing his head in time
with the words.” (pg 463-464)
Summary: Brother Jack asks the narrator on what premise did he go
through with the eulogy, and the narrator replies “my personal responsibility.”
After this Brother Jack mocks him by repeating this phrase and telling him he has
no personal responsibility.
Explanation: This quote reminds me of the narrators scholorship speech in which
he is forced to repeat the word “responsibility.” This is significant because he
doesn’t realize that in both cases he has no responsibility or power in any way.
“’You’ll learn,’ he said. ‘You’ll learn and you’ll surrender yourself to it even under
such conditions. Especially under such conditions; that’s its value. That makes it
patience.” (pg 465)
Summary: Brother Jack continuously tells the narrator that there are many
things the brotherhood has tried to teach him, but he has missed those lessons
and will soon have to review them.
Explanation: The reason this quote is important is because he is told that he is to
“learn” and more importantly “surrender” to “patience.” When Brother Jack tells
him this he isnt just telling him to surrender to patience but to surrender to the will
of the brotherhood and whoever is incharge of him.
“’Not with god, nor with your wife, Brother,’ I told him. ‘I’ve never met either… I’ll
stand on that as I stand on what I see and feel and on what I’ve heard, and
know.’” (pg 471-472)
Summary: The narrator states that he sees the people of harlem and that he
understands how they feel about the brotherhood and what they are going to do.
Brother Tobbit says “He’s in touch with god.” The narrator then responds with this
quote.
Explanation: This quote is important because he personally attacks Brother
Tobbit which is something he never would have done before being in the
brotherhood. Another thing that’s important about this quote is the fact that he
tells the entire brother hood that he is better than them, more or less, and they
simply ignore him.
“’But are you sure you aren’t their great white father?’ I said, watching him
closely, aware of the hot silence and feeling tension race from my toes to my legs
as I drew my feet quickly beneath me. ‘Wouldn’t it be better if they called you
Marse Jack?’” (pg 473)
Summary: The narrator accuses Brother Jack of trying to be the “great white
father,” and goes even as far as to compare him to a slave owner.
Explanation: This is possibly one of the most important quotes from the chapter
because after attacking Brother Tobbit he then attacks Brother Jack which he
never would have done before this instance. It is also symbalic because Brother
Jack truly is acting as a slave owner in that he uses the skilled black people of
harlem as tools to influence the rest of the inhabitance to do whatever he wants.
Like a slave owner more or less.
“I stared at the glass, seeing how the light shone through, throwing a transparent,
precisely fluted shadow against the dark grain of the table, and there on the
bottom of the glass lay an eye… Then I was looking at him standing above me,
outlined by the light against the darkened half of the hall.” (pg 474)
Summary: After the narrator attacks Brother Jack he falls into a rant and
during this rant he reviels that he has a false glass eye by allowing it to
accidentally fall out of his socket. It lands in a glass of water and seems to stare
up at the narrator
Explanation: This is important becauseit allows the narrator to realize that
Brother Jack is blind both litteraly and metaphorically. He doesn’t see the
narrator as anythin other than a tool and he doesn’t see the power the narrator
believes he has.
“Should you show him you get it? Shouldn’t you?... There, so now you're learning
… get it under control … patience … Yes …“ (pg 476)
Summary: After the narrator sees that Brother Jack is blind he falls within
himself and begins having a conversation with himself about himself and what he
should do.
Explanation: This is when the narrator first realizes that he is invisible and tries to
decide whether he should use it to his advantage or not.
“’If it should, maybe you’ll recommend me to your oculist,’ I said, ‘then I may notsee myself as others see-me-not.’” (pg 477)
Summary: Brother Jack tells the narrator that he hopes he never loses his
eye, then the narrator replies with this statement. Brother Jack sees it as a joke
and ignores the narrator.
Explanation: This is very important because the narrator blatantly shows that he
is invisible and that Brother Jack is blind and because of both of these truths
Brother Jack ignores him.
Notes Chapter 23
Sarah Pekarek
·
Narrator Runs into Ras the Extorter at a rally, and was immediately
recognized by the Ras and the crowd for his involvement in the
Brotherhood.
o
Narrator realizes he’s recognized for an identity formed by the Brotherhood
instead of by himself
·
Narrator buys green sunglasses to avoid conflict with Ras’s “goons”
o
The Invisible Man is amazed at how quickly his “individual” identity
evaporated as soon as he did something so simple as wearing a pair of
sunglasses. Suddenly he is a whole new person who isn’t labeled as a part of the
Brotherhood anymore, suddenly he is a man called Rineheart.
o
The narrator questions his self-worth.
o
Reader realizes he is a small piece of the large puzzle of the Brotherhood,
and he has actually made no individual decisions for himself.
·
Narrator is repeatedly mistaken for the man Rineheart while wearing
his new sunglasses.
o
He sees Rineheart has many identities, as a pimp, a preacher, and a
gambler.
o
Narrator has an epiphany when he realizes identity is not always true, and
sometimes contains many dimensions.
o
Narrator feels a sense of betrayal and questions everyone’s “identity”
including his own. He feels wary, and a loss of faith and/or trust in all people he
once knew, or knows including Clifton and Brother Jack.
·
“Look at me! Look at me!” I said. “Everywhere I’ve turned somebody
has wanted to sacrifice me for my good-only they were the ones who
benefited. And now we start on the old sacrificial merry-go-round. At what
point to we stop? Is this the new true definition, is Brotherhood a matter of
sacrificing the weak? If so, at what point do we stop” (505)?
o
Narrator questions Brother Hambro on his intentions for the good of
Harlem’s black population.
o
He realized the Brotherhood was focused solely on moving colored people
in a backwards direction, and they’d been doing so by controlling and sacrificing
the intelligent, black young men and women who wanted to make a difference in
their community.
·
“I’d overcome them with yeses, undermine them with grins, I’d agree
them to death and destruction” (508)
o
The Invisible man finally takes his grandfather’s advice after he realizes the
Brotherhood’s true intentions. He makes a connection between brother Jack,
Norton, and Emerson. He finally found that they all tried to suppress him in the
same way, using different methods.
o
Narrator begins to relish the Brotherhood’s betrayal, and wants to get back
at them using a woman in cahoots with a powerful member of the Brotherhood.