Ideology, and the Violent emergence of Subjectivity
in the Early Chapters of the Invisible Man.

Following the prologue, the initial chapters of Ellison's Invisible Man take up the narrator's youth and growth, unfolding a process whereby the "self" comes to be aware of its nature as a subject. We will look at some of the scenarios and encounters that display to readers and the narrator how others see him, revealing the "subject position" to which he is called. At the same time, we will try to be aware of the way in which the narrator's own ideology shapes what he sees and cannot see (and how this is sometimes different from our own).

 

Discussion Point A: Chapter 1 – The key "concept" scenarios in this chapter would have to include the following? What do these scenes tell us about the developing subjectivity of the narrator?:

1. the confusing deathbed advice of the grandfather (16);
2. the conflicted emotions and perhaps empathy provoked by the stripper (19-21);
3. the battle royal and the paradoxes of loyalty, subordination, and individiualism it represents for the narrator (24-26)
4. the speech and "reward" of a scholarship to college (30-33)
 

Discussion Point B: Chapter 2 – finds the narrator giving a tour of the campus and the contrasting neighborhood for a trustee at his college, Mr. Norton.

1. How does Mr. Norton conceive of his relationship to the narrator? Can you consider it an ideological position? Does the narrator see them as bound together? (37-41, 44-45)
2. How would you distinguish what the Narrator is supposed to show Norton from what he actually sees? How would you distinguish the reactions of the two men to Trueblood's story?
3. What does the surprising charity shown to Trueblood after he commits incest say about the ideology of the locals in relation to that informing the college?
4. How are the name "Trueblood," the "embarassingly" "primitive spirituals" he used to perform as entertainment (47), and the scandal connected as threats to the Narrator's sense of himself
 

Discussion Point C: Chapter 3 – enriches the oppositions between white and black, "uplift"ing college and downtrodden locals. As the Vet (a war veteran, former college student, and former M.D.) recounts his story, its purpose and effects seem to shift. How do Norton and the narrator respond to the Vet's speech? How are we invited to respond as readers? Do we see things that the narrator cannot?(91-95)

Courses | Sherwood |IUP English | IUP
Last Updated: 09 December, 2008