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?
I think that the vet subscribes more closely to the grandfather's actual ideals. The grandfather makes it clear, as you say, that he sees himself as a spy. If the grandfather is a spy, then the vet is maybe just a soldier, as he once literally was. He is in the psych ward because he has taken his opposition into the open, and is no longer fighting through "yes's", but through mockery. Bledsoe, on the other hand, feels like a double agent. Where the grandfather had a wider goal, a wider plan, Bledsoe is in it only for himself. He doesn't care about the African-American community, members of whom he expels for failing to immediately realize his game, nor is he working for white society, whose money he takes for his own purposes.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the chapter we just read, could we say that Ras holds some of the grandfather's rhetoric? It's hard to say, as Ras seeks out more drastic forms of protest while the Brotherhood strives for peaceful union and discipline, but Ras is much more concerned with the "don't subscribe to the white agenda" mentality.
ReplyDeleteI think that a further question that could be asked from your post is, how important is the grandfather's message when it comes to the shaping of who the narrator becomes? According to your post, you could say that because the message is basically given to the narrator so many times, in slightly different ways, that his message is the most important.
ReplyDeleteAnswering your question, I think that Blensoe unfortunately is more grandfather-like because he was able to keep his place in society. A big part of why the grandfather's message was so surprising to people, was because of his status in their community. However, like you pointed out, the grandfather seemed to be a "spy" for his community, while Blensoe is a "spy" for his own self interest. So honestly, I think that the answer just depends on which parts of the grandfather's message seemed more important to you, The community support, or the position in society?