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Here We Go Again

It was too good to be true. Right?

After living with Mary for months without a job or money, everything looked bleak for the narrator. Returning to the college definitely wasn't an option nor was returning to his own family. Then out of nowhere, the narrator carried out a rousing speech that would catch the attention of Brother Jack. He offered the narrator a good chunk of money to be the spokesperson for his organization, which the narrator took of course.

After finding out that the narrator was given an opportunity with the Brotherhood, I was elated. He has been through so much after being kicked out of his own college, backstabbed by Bledsoe, and left to rot in New York. It was finally his time to revive himself. In addition, the position offered by the Brotherhood didn't sound too bad. The narrator would be able to use his greatest strength, which is the ability to give speeches, and he'll finally have a voice. I thought it was the perfect situation for the narrator.

We all should have seen it coming.

I feel like by this point, it's almost like a cycle of hope and let down. The narrator screwed up with Dr. Norton, thought he was given a second chance to earn his way back, and found out he was kicked out of college. Now, the same cycle is recurring for the second time. The narrator was at rock bottom when he lived with Mary, He thought he had a chance to make some money and make a difference in the Harlem community. Eventually, he found out that he was really there just to be a spoke person, as Brother Jack so elegantly stated, "You were not hired to think" (Ellison 469).

How worse can it get for the narrator? I think we are near the point where we'll see the narrator from the Prologue.

Comments

  1. Nabeel BashirSeptember 28, 2019 at 12:42 PM

    I agree completely. All of the bad things happening to the narrator are beginning to change his perspective of society, and will ultimately bring us the shift in the conscience that we've been waiting for.

    ReplyDelete
  2. DanbiOctober 15, 2019 at 12:03 PM

    I totally agree with you that it's frustrating to see the narrator obtain all these opportunities just for them to be taken away from him or be a false sense of security. Honestly, as much as my natural tendency as a reader roots for the narrator and wants the best for him, I think the countless times the narrator is let down is actually pretty necessary as it serves the purpose of making the plot more interesting as well as the message that the novel sends more apparent. Although there are definitely many messages that the reader can takeaway from Invisible Man, I think that one of the most prominent ones is the existence of a mask in society with the Brotherhood, Bledsoe, and even the general public all serving as examples. I don't know if you also noticed them but what's interesting is I continued to root for the narrator and his new opportunity as the Brotherhood's speaker despite the red flags that seemed to pop up throughout the story.

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