Invisible Man, Chapters 5-9

Chapter 5 -- Chapel and Barbee's speech

The chapel is an important place on campus for entertaining guests and respectable members of the community, usually with renditions of "'their primitive spirituals'" (47). It is also a place where orators or speakers educate the student body and these guests on religion and history. Ellison refers to events on the chapel stage as the "black rite of Horatio Alger" (111) -- the author of the immensely popular Ragged Dick novels about an orphan pulling himself up by his bootstraps and achieving independence and self-sufficiency in New York City.

On this particular night, the rite is historical and it has to do with the legacy of the founder of the school, a figure based on Booker T. Washington, the founder of Tuskegee University. The Invisible Man comes to realize that he has actually defaced this legacy (however unconsciously) by doing the wrong things when taking care of Norton.

The Barbee speech is an attempt to assert the control of tradition over a people only recently become free individuals encouraged to think of themselves and their forebears and posterity in terms of traditions. Booker T. Washington was particularly concerned with the development of black traditions and believed that African Americans could never be a mature or developed race until they had traditions of their own.

In Washington's 1901 autobiography Up From Slavery, he reflects on his race's lack of "honoured and distinguished ancestry" and of inheritances including "a name...fortune and a proud family homestead" (document page 17/PDF page 13). Washington goes on to argue that the "influence of ancestry...is important in helping forward any individual or race, if too much reliance is not placed upon it." The threat of

"disgrac[ing] the whole family record, extending back through many generations, is of tremendous value in helping him to resist temptations. The fact that the individual has behind and surrounding him proud family history and connection serves as a stimulus to help him to overcome obstacles when striving for success" (18/14). 

This is true in the psychological or moral sense of inspiring him to act in ways that are worthy of his status and in the more immediate and practical sense of business connections. In this case, Barbee so compellingly describes the history of the Founder's life (which mirror Booker T's) on 119-129 that members of the audience are moved to tears.

Barbee states the responsibility of the students to imitate and "pattern [them]selves upon him" on 133 before falling down on the stage and leading the Invisible Man to realize that he is "blind" (133). When he became blind is ambiguous, and he describes seeing a number of things in his narrative (namely the North Star on 127), but it is clear that Barbee literally cannot see that which is around him. Regardless, his speech causes the Invisible Man to see his own guilt: "I could not look at Dr. Bledsoe now, because old Barbee had made me both feel my guilt and accept it. For although I had not intended it, any act that endangered the continuity of the dream was an act of treason" (134).

Chapter 6 -- Bledsoe's Power-Play

Although Norton states before both the Invisible Man and Bledsoe that the former is not "responsible" for what has occurred on 103, Bledsoe insists that Norton should not be "'kind'" or "'pamper'" the Invisible Man but deal with him as a negative representative of his race:

"'You can't be soft with these people...An accident to a guest of this college while he is in the charge of a student is without question the student's fault. That's one of our strictest rules'" (104). 

Earlier, in Chapter 4, Bledsoe insists that the Invisible Man was responsible for his actions even if he was not aware of what he was doing at the time and even if he did what Norton "'asked'" and wanted (102):

"'Damn what he wants...Haven't you got the sense God gave a dog? We take these white folks where we want them to go, we show them what we want them to see. Don't you know that? I thought you had some sense?'"

In Chapter 6, the Invisible Man again claims that he acted to "'please'" Norton, but Bledsoe insists that "'the only way to please a white man is to tell him a lie'" and questions "'[w]hat kind of education'" the Invisible Man has gotten at the college and in the south -- "'Your white folk didn't teach you anything and your mother-wit has left you cold'" (142). The Invisible Man is supposed to know how to emphasize the best interests of the race and the institution -- "'haven't we bowed and scraped and begged and lied enough decent homes and drives for you to show him?'" (138) -- as well as how to ignore orders given by whites and meet them with "'excuse[s]'" in order to avoid "'endangering the school'" (139).

Bledsoe maintains that the Invisible Man knows little else "'other than how to ruin an institution in half an hour that it took over half a hundred years to build'" (140). He enforces the "'strictest rules'" against the Invisible Man, and voices his suspicion that he had been put up to doing what he did, or that someone else -- namely the vet -- had "'suggested'" the stop at Trueblood's cabin (139). Bledsoe refers to the Invisible Man by a racial slur on 139 which deeply disturbs the Invisible Man and starts up his flight-or-fight response.  Bledsoe inquires into the vet's background ("'northern or southern'") on 140 and then meets the Invisible Man's claims regarding Norton's understanding of events with his own challenge:

"'Norton is one man and I'm another, and while he might think he's satisfied, I know that he isn't! Your poor judgment has caused this school incalculable damage. Instead of uplifting the race, you've torn it down'" (140).

The "old leg shackle from slavery" (141) is one of the school's few historical artifacts (see the discussion of tradition in Chapter 5 above -- the shackle is mentioned again in the context of Emerson's "museum" on 181). Bledsoe uses the leg iron -- "which he proudly called 'a symbol of our progress'" (141) to emphasize his own unique position of power at the University and minimize the Invisible Man's agency:

"Negroes don't control this school or much of anything else...No sir, they don't control this school, nor white folk either. True they support it, but I control it. I's big and black and I say 'Yes, suh' as loudly as any burrhead when it's convenient, but I'm still the king down here. I don't care how much it appears otherwise. Power doesn't have to show off. Power if confident, self-assuring, self-starting, self-stopping, self-warming, and self-justifying. When you have it, you know it...Those are the facts, son. THe only ones I eve pretend to please are the big white folk, and even those I control more than they control me. This is a power set-up, son, and I'm at the controls. You think about that. When you buck against me, you're bucking against power, rich white folk's power, the nation's power -- which means government power...And I'll tell you something your sociology teachers are afraid to tell you...If there werent' men like me running schoosl like this, there'd be no South. Nor North either. No, and there'd be no country -- not as it is today. You think about that, son''" (142-43) 

Bledsoe sees the Invisible Man not as an individual person who has made a mistake, but as a representative of his generation -- "'you young Negroes'"-- who have failed to catch on "'to how things are done down here'" or to recognize "'the difference between the way things are and the way they're supposed to be'" (142). He finds the Invisible Man's threats to be humorous because he "'control[s]'"everything at the school and everyone (regardless of race) involved in it (142).

Bledsoe's reflections on lies and the truth on 142-3 are key passages for close reading, as his his rather backhanded complements on 144 and offer of assistance on 145.

The Invisible Man reflects on his situation and imminent departure on 146-7 and decides that he can either "permanently" face the world of his grandfather, Trueblood, and the Golden Day or "'accept the responsibility for what had happened'" (147). He still believes himself to be "innocent" but he is willing to "submit to punishment" and recognize Bledsoe's truth as true.

The next day, the Invisible Man feels the need to remind Bledsoe of his offer of letters (on 145) and Bledsoe writes them for him but insists that he not "'open them if [he] want[s] help'" for "'White folk are strict about such things'" (149).

Chapter 7 -- The train north to Harlem

Bledsoe asks the Invisible Man about the vet on 140 -- whether he is "'northern or southern'" on the basis of his accent -- and insists that he will "'investigate him'" because "'[a] Negro like that should be under lock and key.'" The Invisible Man encounters the vet on the train first thing the following morning and is forced to sit near him by the segregation laws: "the rear was reserved for us and there was nothing to do but move back with them" (151).

The vet tries to excite the Invisible Man by describing New York City as "'not a place'" but a "'dream'" and speculating about his future exercises of personal freedom on 152. It is interesting that for all Bledsoe's power in getting them both on the train (which they discuss on the middle of 153), the vet essentially gets what he wanted -- a transfer to St. Elizabeth's in Washington D.C. that he has tried to obtain for a year. Before they part ways forever, the vet attempts to give the Invisible Man some advice that is as prescient as his earlier diagnosis of the protagonist's blindness and invisibility in Chapter 3 on 94-5.

On 153 the vet urges the Invisible Man to "'learn to look beneath the surface,'" to "'[c]ome out of the fog,'" and to "'[p]lay the game, but don't believe in it -- that much you owe yourself...Play the game, but play it in your own way -- part of the time at least. Play the game, but raise the ante, my boy. Learn how it operates, learn how you operate'" (154). In spite of their race (whom the vet writes off as "'an ass-backward people'"), the vet suggests that the "game" of life is "really a very crude affair" that has been solved or historically determined and "put down in books" (154). Lastly and most importantly, the vet attempts to offer "'fatherly advice'" to the Invisible Man, which amounts to an injunction to "'Be [his] own father'" and to view the world as "possibility" itself, "if only you'll discover it." Finally, the vet suggests something that it will take the Invisible Man many more pages and a great deal of pain and discomfort to recognize (which he finally does on 249) -- that he should "'leave the Mr. Norton's alone'" (156).

Yet, the Invisible Man still draws confidence from his possession of these seven letters on 157: "The very thought of my contacts gave me a feeling of sophistication, of wordliness...made me feel light and expansive."

Chapter 8 -- Distributing Bledsoe's letters

The Invisible Man considers steaming the letters open on 163, but thinks this "would not be honorable or safe" (163). He holds the letters like "a hand of high trump cards" before the mirror in his room at the Men's House and gives himself an "admiring smile" (163). He puts them in the briefcase he won at the Battle Royale on 164 and delivers letters for the rest of the chapter (165-171).

He initially remarks on reactions from secretaries that are disconcerting but not overtly racist. The first looks at him "oddly" and smiles (167) and "all were friendly and encouraging" although some look at him "strangely," a phenomena he dismisses "since it didn't appear to be antagonism" (168). He retains the letter to Mr. Emerson, who is known to be out of town. 

169 is a crucial page: He tries to reach the other men by telephone but receives "polite refusals by their secretaries." He takes a different tack with Emerson and instead of sending the letter itself, writes his own "letter explaining that I had a message from Dr. Bledsoe and requesting an appointment." He starts to wonder if the secretaries have simply destroyed the letters and writes his own letter to Mr. Norton. 

Chapter 8 closes with the Invisible Man feeling "afraid" and wondering if he isn't being "subjected to a test of some kind" for which "They hadn't told [him] the rules" (170).

Chapter 9 -- Changes in plans, Mr. Emerson, Bledsoe's letter

Chapter 9 begins with the Invisible Man encountering a northern peddler of blueprints who is familiar with the traditional African -- and by extension, Southern, -- rhetoric of signifyin'. The man sings "a blues" about a woman with "'feet like a monkey / Legs like a frog" (173) and continually attempts to get the Invisible Man to play along. When the Invisible Man proves resistant (he remembers such singing and speech, but not what to say in return -- see 173-74), the peddler accuses him of "'trying to deny [him]'" (173). The Invisible Man tries to play along on 174, and the peddler responds positively, explaining his understanding of Harlem, which "'ain't nothing but a bear's den,'" and the blueprints that he carries: 

"'What are they blueprints for?'"
"'Damn if I know -- everything...I guess somebody done changed their plans...Plenty of these ain't never been used...Folks is always making plans and changing 'em'" (175) 

The Invisible Man thinks of his letters as another sort of plan and responds that it is "'a mistake'" to change plans, "'You have to stick to the plan'" (175). He receives a rude awakening upon his arrival at Emerson's office, which resembles a "museum," on 179. He marvels over the exotic and luxuriant furnishings while a man we discover is Emerson's son on 190 reads Bledsoe's letter in another room. 

The Emerson's son's manner has been a subject of much critical speculation. The general consensus is that he is homosexual on the basis of:

a) His initial attitude toward the Invisible Man -- whom he looks "up and down" on 183. Emerson touches the Invisible Man's knee "lightly" on 186, "quickly removing his hand" when the Invisible Man shifts his position. 

b) Emerson's mention of Club Calamus (185) -- a fictitious Harlem jazz club whose name invokes Walt Whitman's Calamus poems, his most overtly homoerotic poetry and the phallic plant referred to in these poems. Emerson invites the Invisible Man to go there with him, possibly as his "valet," on 192.

c) His emphasis on his strife with his father namely Emerson's statement that his father "'considers me one of the unspeakables...I'm Huckleberry, you see'" (188). Ellison obviously refers to Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn, but likely insinuates the relationship between Huck and Tom Sawyer. There is also a slave character in Twain's novel named Tom who is often the victim of the boys' practical jokes. The Invisible Man has written off Huckleberry Finn as a "kid's story" and so he does not understand the more sophisticated reading suggested by Emerson. Emerson invokes the novel as a male buddy narrative and for its racial ambiguities. His father would consider his honesty with the Invisible Man (rather than Bledsoe) as "' most extreme treason'" but young Emerson insists that his "'revelation'" has freed the Invisible Man of Mr. Emerson and his like: "'You're free of him now. I'm still his prisoner. You have been freed, don't you understand? I've still my battle.' He seemed near tears" (192).    

After much awkwardness and ambiguity, the young Mr Emerson allows the Invisible Man to read the letter, the contents of which appear on 190-91. Emerson finally explains why he has been discouraging the Invisible Man from returning to the campus and inquires what the Invisible Man did, which the latter is said to recount "falteringly" and Emerson admits is "'little enough,'" confessing that he does not "'understand'" Bledsoe, who he describes as "'very complicated'" (192) and the orchestrator of a "tyranny" (187).