Seeing Humanity

We have FINALLY gotten to a point where our narrator is conscious of his invisibility and how people are treating him. It's been a long ride but honestly the pay-off is pretty nice. I think the main thing that really got him to see his invisibility is his own tendency to see people's humanity. Invisibility in an essence is the removal of humanity from a person, whether you are the invisible one or the one who is cannot see another, the basis is that you see a figure instead of a person. I feel like the narrator doesn't really see anyone in his life as human for a long time; Bledsoe is a goal, then an object of hatred, the veterans are all just crazy figures, Mr. Norton is a figure of white power, Jack and the other brothers are just an avenue into history, and it's not until he gets to Harlem that he starts to really see people as people. Most importantly in my opinion are Brother Tarp and Tod Clifton.

The narrator sees Brother Tarp after they talk about his time in slavery and how he escaped. Before, perhaps he was another invisible man to the narrator, but afterwards, the narrator truly sees Brother Tarp. This is not to say that he knew everything there was to know about Brother Tarp, rather that he recognized the 3-dimensional nature of him and realized that there was more than met the eye, and made an effort to understand it. He respects Brother Tarp and sees how his history shaped him. I think one very important part in seeing people clearly is seeing and understanding their past, and the narrator's insight into Brother Tarp's past helps him see Brother Tarp.

And then there's Tod Clifton. At first, Tod is also invisible to the narrator; he is just seen as a pretty boy with a nice voice and ideas that coincided with the narrator. The narrator sees him as a partner, but doesn't see him as a man. That is, until the incident with the dolls and the abrupt ending of Tod's life. Only then does the narrator fully realize Tod as a person, which he expresses at the funeral and at the meeting with the Brotherhood. He recognizes that they put Tod onto a pedestal and turned him into a symbol, stripping away his humanity. He recognizes that Tod was much more nuanced, and that he was "full of contradictions" and that is the nature of humanity. Most importantly, the narrator pronounces him a man; not a hero, not an angel, but a man. He had flaws and the narrator acknowledges this and sees that he must have had complicated circumstances. Again, he doesn't know everything about Tod - far from it - but it's his acknowledgement of that and that there was more to Tod erases his invisibility.

The question of seeing humanity in people is the reason why the Brotherhood is blind; they can only see the numbers and big picture - they can't see the people as people.

Gradations of Grandfathers

Throughout Invisible Man our narrator has mentioned multiple people who have greatly influenced his view on race and his relationship to the race and responsibility to it, the first of which is his grandfather. His grandfather told him "I have been a traitor all my born days, a spy in the enemy's country (...) Live with your head in the lion's mouth. I want you to overcome 'em with yeses, undermine 'em with grins, agree 'em to death and destruction, let 'em swoller you till they vomit or bust wide open" (16). The narrator continues through his life meeting people who's life philosophies are often very similar to his grandfather's words, although slightly altered in some ways. The first person who we encounter who is reminiscent of his grandfather is the vet.
The vet is able to dissect the narrator's situation and consciousness with uncanny accuracy. He seems to have followed the grandfather's life advice pretty closely. He speaks to Mr. Norton without deference, speaks sarcastically to him, and laughs at his expense. One could say that the vet is a reincarnation of the grandfather or someone who follows the grandfather's footsteps. However, there is a slight difference; the vet's position in society. While the vet has been exiled to the edges of society, the grandfather was able to keep his position for all his life, effectively being a spy for all his days. The vet, on the other hand, was only able to while he was practicing and while he understood the nature of being invisible. Once he was sent of to the psychiatric ward he no longer really functioned the same way as the grandfather.
The next person we encounter who is reminiscent of the grandfather is Dr. Bledsoe. Bledsoe seems to be the perfect follower of the grandfather's doctrine; he is a public figure, he has all the white people fooled, and knows how to get what he wants. However, he lacks the community aspect that the grandfather carried. As he said "learn it to the young'ns", he is emphasizing the need to teach everyone, not just keep this technique or power hidden for oneself (16). Bledsoe on the other hand is fully in the game of life for himself and thinks of no one else.
Who really is more grandfatheresque then? What is more the essence of following the grandfather's doctrine?