Blindness
Invisible Man's first chapter contains some very strange events. Black students are forced into multiple events that have no place in a graduation ceremony. Looking deeper, this entire chapter is filled with metaphors that Ellison is using to show the extent of segregation between Blacks and Whites.
Shortly before entering the battle royale, all contestants are blindfolded. They proceed to attack each other indiscriminately, swinging wildly until someone comes into range. Considering all contestants are Black, and the event seems to be planned exclusively by White people, it's fairly obvious that the Whites are turning the Blacks against each other for their own entertainment. Adding to this is the fact that the blindfolds used are colored white. Although in this particular scene the Whites are manipulating the Blacks merely for entertainment, Ellison might be suggesting that, in the real world, Whites tried to prevent Black uprisings and riots by turning them against each other, "blinding" them from the fact that the Whites were their true enemies.
Looking back at the chapter as a whole, the narrator seems incredibly nonchalant about the whole ordeal, both during and after the events. During the battle royale and carpet scenes, he remains excited about giving his speech, not stopping to question why these brutal and bloody events are taking place at all. This shows that the narrator is either too stupid to notice these injustices, which wouldn't make sense as he's given the opportunity to give a speech and later a scholarship, or that these injustices take place so often he's now blind to how cruelly the Whites are treating the Blacks.
Shortly before entering the battle royale, all contestants are blindfolded. They proceed to attack each other indiscriminately, swinging wildly until someone comes into range. Considering all contestants are Black, and the event seems to be planned exclusively by White people, it's fairly obvious that the Whites are turning the Blacks against each other for their own entertainment. Adding to this is the fact that the blindfolds used are colored white. Although in this particular scene the Whites are manipulating the Blacks merely for entertainment, Ellison might be suggesting that, in the real world, Whites tried to prevent Black uprisings and riots by turning them against each other, "blinding" them from the fact that the Whites were their true enemies.
Looking back at the chapter as a whole, the narrator seems incredibly nonchalant about the whole ordeal, both during and after the events. During the battle royale and carpet scenes, he remains excited about giving his speech, not stopping to question why these brutal and bloody events are taking place at all. This shows that the narrator is either too stupid to notice these injustices, which wouldn't make sense as he's given the opportunity to give a speech and later a scholarship, or that these injustices take place so often he's now blind to how cruelly the Whites are treating the Blacks.
Great post! I would also like to connect your conclusions to the statue at the school. The black figure's eyes are covered in bird poop which is white giving the illusion that despite this being an all black school, it is run by whites. I also agree with your connection of the whites preventing uprising by blinding them.
ReplyDeleteThis is really interesting!! I hadn't thought about the battle royale scene in that context, and I think that's a really cool interpretation. I definitely agree with your point about the narrator - I don't think he's stupid at all, I think the scene shows the way that he has just grown accustomed to the ways of the Jim Crow South and has come to perceive obvious abuse as only normal. He's even weirdly grateful for the entire situation because he gets a college scholarship out of it.
ReplyDeleteI never would have thought to connect the statue to the way that whites are in control of the university. I think this connects really well with the way that Bigger is blinded to his situation buy the his experience with dealing with racism and also the way that Bigger can't escape the oppression because of his blindness.
ReplyDeleteAs Izzy mentioned, this can relate really well to the themes of blindness in Native Son. This "blind" motif seems to show up often in these two stories. I would also like to add that in some cases the Whites can also be considered "blind", as they just simply disregard the problems of blacks, though this shows up more in Native Son than in Invisible Man
ReplyDeleteI think it is really interesting to think of this scene as the narrator being blind to the injustices. It becomes even more interesting as we progress through the book and we slowly see the narrator gaining his sight.
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