Success and Invisibility
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, Bledsoe makes his power and success quite visible, but also makes his true values invisible.
Brockway, on the other hand, is invisible because White people don’t see him as the “power behind the power” that he is at Liberty Paints--no one recognizes how crucial he is to the success of the company, because no one even knows who he is. This is where he differs from Bledsoe--Bledsoe’s success is visible to white people, and Brockway’s isn’t. They’re both successful and invisible, but invisible in different ways.
So where does the narrator fit in? Once he finds out Bledsoe’s true nature, he’s disgusted by him--in the narrator’s eyes, Bledsoe was the embodiment of a successful Black man, but it's revealed that even he has to submit to White people. With Brockway, the narrator seems unimpressed because he doesn’t appear successful to others. At this point in the novel, it’s intriguing that the narrator, having dubbed himself an “invisible man” in the prologue, doesn’t have any respect for the two other invisible characters in the story. It seems that he wants to be successful but doesn’t want to be invisible, which neither Bledsoe nor Brockway have accomplished. Is invisibility a requisite for success? It’ll be interesting to see if this question is answered, and how the narrator ends up accepting his invisibility as we see him do in the prologue.
I really like your post! I think the question you pose of if "invisibility is a requisite for success" is a really interesting one, and one the narrator seems to grapple with just a little bit with his encounter with Bledsoe. I think a big part of the reason he was shaken by their talk was how his image of a successful black man was shattered. The narrator saw Bledsoe as someone who white people could scorn, but never overlook, because of the power he wielded - yet, that's exactly what they're doing, and Bledsoe is actually purposefully promoting that invisibility. In the case of Brockway, like you mentioned, the narrator seems more preoccupied on the fact that Brockway appears as a "clown and fool", not the image of what a successful person should be.
ReplyDeleteYour post is super interesting, I think yeah, maybe a point Ellison is making is that for black people specifically, invisiblity is needed to success, because white people don't want to see them succeed. So in Bledsoe's case he builds a shield using the egos of the white people around him, becoming invisible, and Brockway just hides himself but makes him invaluable. White people can accept these versions of success because they don't notice them, but if they did, they might try to tear it down
ReplyDeleteThis is a really interesting take. I hadn't thought of Bledsoe or Brockway as being invisible until now. I guess my question would be how does the narrator's invisibility differ from Bledsoe and Brockway's? Like you mention, the narrator dislikes both of these characters, primarily for their invisibility. How has the narrator become invisible in a way that he is happy with when he's so disgusted by these other two men?
ReplyDeleteGreat post, I didn't think of success and invisibility being linked that before. However, isn't it interesting how the narrator doesn't want to be invisible but eventually succumbs to it and even accepts it, as shown in the prologue? To some extent, the author might be showing us that the only way to become successful is to become invisible, which answers the question you posed. This poses another question though: is invisibility inherently bad? The narrator eventually accepts his invisibility, but we don't know if he still views it as a good or bad thing. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I think its cool how you are broadening the scope of invisibility in Invisible Man to outside of just the Narrator. I completely agree with how Brockway and Bledsoe are both, in a way, invisible, but in completely different ways. I like how your post touches on the different kinds of invisibility shown in the novel; the invisibility of having your identity shaped by others, the invisibility of concealing your true identity, and the invisibility of not being recognized by society. All of these kinds of invisibility are connected and all affect the Narrator, which I guess is why he holds the title of the "Invisible Man."
ReplyDeleteI like the question that you pose in your blog that asks if invisibility is a requirement for success. Based on Bledsoe's character and applying that to real life, I think that it depends. If you're a black man trying to succeed in a white world, yes. As seen through Bledsoe's actions, you have to hide your 'true' self. I also like how you ask what type of invisibility does the narrator fall under. I think your blog raises interesting questions and great points.
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