Ian's African American Literature Blog

     So far in Invisible Man , the concept of invisibility seems to affect more people than just the narrator, namely Bledsoe and Brockway. Bledsoe’s invisibility can be seen as self-inflicted because he chooses to conceal his true self from white people. However, Brockway’s invisibility is more involuntary, as his invisibility seems to result from other people’s failure to recognize him. Invisibility means different things for these two characters, but both are very successful at what they do. This made me wonder: Is invisibility a requisite for success?      In chapter four, we see how Bledsoe fakes his entire personality around white people. He’s completely subservient and tells them what they want to hear, disregarding his critical consciousness for their approval. He’s invisible because white people don’t see the true Bledsoe who was revealed while he was yelling at the narrator. By figuring out how the White world works and playing by its rules, Bleds...

  What is Wright Telling Us Through Max? Ian Evensen Max is one of the more likable characters in Native Son. He sympathizes with Bigger, respects him and treats him like a person, and values his thoughts and emotions. Most importantly, Max seems to understand Bigger better than anyone else in the novel, and even articulates the message that Richard Wright is trying to deliver through Bigger’s story. However, I think Wright is also trying to convey a deeper message through Max: no matter how sympathetic a White person is, they will never be able to truly understand a black person’s experience. To begin with, while Bigger is telling his story to Max in the jail cell, there are multiple times when he feels as though Max just can’t understand him. When Max tells Bigger that he should’ve tried to understand Mary better, Bigger “glared about the small room, searching for an answer. He knew that his actions did not seem logical and he gave up trying to explain them logically” (350). Here...