Well cheers to our newest book journaling! In the prologue I thought it was very interesting to learn about the invisible man. He seems to be at war with everyone. When the man is insulted he never backs down. Instead, he stands up for himself and fights the man that insulted him. I think that this reflects the kind of man that he is. Although he sees himself as invisible he is still willing to fight and not be trampled by others, especially the white men. I think that the racism in the piece is very evident. At the end of the prologue, the invisible man says "He,let us say, was lost in a dream world. But didn't he control that dream" (14). This shows his view of how society works. The white people are in control and valued because of the color of their skin. The police would have blamed the invisible man based solely on his race. This social commentary helps to develop the piece as a critique of society and point out the injustice through the eyes of someone experiencing it.
I also thought it was interesting that he uses so many lightbulbs. Symbolically, that could represent his desire to be seen and also his attempt to find himself. The conflicts of this story so far have been internal and external. The invisible man has to fight society and their view of him, and his internal struggle to find himself. It will be interesting to see how the resolution of these problems will play out.
The past of the invisible man was also very tragic, and once again shows the cruelty and inequality of the society. Being forced to fight and then be pushed into an electric rug is terrible. The white men also ignore the man’s speech and laugh despite the obvious work that he had to put into it. They are only interested when he accidentally says “social inequality”. He is then rewarded for this with a briefcase and scholarship. Why do you think that all the men reacted to the invisible man’s slip up with such force?
Great entry Kristen! Your point about the light bulbs is very interesting and I wonder if he will continue to use this throughout the book. In response to your question, I also thought it was strange that the only piece of the narrator's speech that the white men paid attention to was the mistake. Perhaps they thought he was on his own agenda, trying to push for more equality, and the white men didn't like the fact that a black boy would bring this topic up. I think this may be another piece to the racism aspect of this story, showing how little the blacks could use their new freedom. Can't wait to see what you post next!
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