When it comes to invisibility, Wright uses Bigger to define his feelings of invisibility using his own words. In his eyes, he sees it as the ability to "act out" whenever he is free from the eyes of white people as long as he acts the way they think hes supposed to act. While this invisibility does not save Bigger from the clutches of the corrupt hand of "justice" in the form of a premeditated trial, it does give us a basic concept for invisibility. It isn't the typically thought of complete disappearance of an individual from view, but rather just a lack of awareness of the individual. I think that this may be due to the fact that any African-american person in this time period was not seen as an individual human, but rather just another negro, same as any others that happened to be walking the street. Because of this, it allows an individual to essentially blend into any surrounding using only a change of demeanor and dark skin.
While Invisible Man has not exactly presented us with the narrator's view on invisibility, it does give us insight into how one gains it. As the narrator goes back into the past to recount his life and how he ended up in an abandoned room, he goes back all the way to before he knew of his invisibility. This shows that invisibility isn't naturally occurring, but rather something acquired through some inner revolution, the same way that Bigger realizes his invisible status after committing accidental murder. That said, if it takes Bigger committing homicide to fully realize his invisibility, what has the narrator done to have embraced this newfound "power"?
Cool post! I also find it interesting how their ideas of invisibility seem the same, but develop in Bigger and the narrator in different ways. Considering all of the nightmarish stuff that's happened in Invisible Man so far, you have to wonder how the narrator will realize his invisibility. Since Bigger had to murder somebody to get his "power," I wonder how far the narrator has to go to achieve his.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I really liked how you connected the two stories with the trend of "invisibility." I also agree that invisibility isn't the physical appearance but rather the lack of awareness for the individual. In Native Son, Bigger realizes that he was previously invisible after he kills Mary. In The Invisible Man, the narrator explains to us how he became invisible. I'm curious to see how this reverse invisibility will connect when we get further in the book.
ReplyDeleteThis is a cool post! However, I think that Bigger's invisibility was not the result of his murder of Mary, and that the narrator's invisibility was not the result of some inner revelation. I think in both case they were invisible to begin with because it was a white dominated, racist society that created their invisibility. I think that the result of the murder and the inner revelation were a recognition of their own invisibility not invisibility itself.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sammy when he says that the murder is not responsible for Bigger's invisibility. I believe that Bigger was invisible even before that. Mr. Dalton simply thought of him and his family as more tenants, and he hired Bigger solely because he was a poor African-American, not because he was outstanding in any way. Bigger knows that the whites disregard him and mentions it when looking at the plane in the sky and lamenting that the whites get to do everything and that the African-Americans don't. I feel like the murder actually gives him some form of individuality as a criminal, though they do try and round up many others before the trial. The trial focuses in on Bigger Thomas, taking him out of the great mass of African-Americans and puts him on the spot for a crime, but at least has him be recognized as a single entity. He is still slightly invisible in the fact that he's just another black criminal, but its more recognition than when he was just in his neighborhood pre-murder.
ReplyDeleteI think that invisibility is inherent, at least in the way it is described in Invisible Man. The Narrator and Bigger might not realize they are invisible for a time, but as the Narrator seems to suggest, he has always been invisible, but due to his naivety he did not realize it. Very insightful post!
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I think that comparing the two books is a really interesting idea especially when you consider the shared theme of invisibility between them. It is especially interesting because both books use invisibility to mean lack of recognizing the main characters as individuals.
ReplyDeleteI think as we have continued reading Invisible Man, we have gotten more possible insight into how the narrator has become invisible. He started off the story caring about what the white people thought of him because he was presenting to them and they were his ticket to the future. But as the story moves on, and more and more people have pushed him away, he's realizing that most people don't care. But in the most recent chapters we've read, the narrator is reverting to himself at the beginning and making speeches again, so I'm curious as to what will happen next to really push him to invisbleness. I can only hope that it won't be as violent as how Bigger did.
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