Monthly Archives: February 2019

The Privilege of Sexuality and Freedom of Sexual Thought in Invisible Man

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Black-ish Little Girl in Elevator Scene

Blackish S03E04 Dre meets little white girl in elevator scene. https://twitter.com/blackishwriters/status/786379713891569664

Though this scene from Black-ish does not directly relate to what I discuss in the post, I think it does a great job of showing how a person’s blackness can affect every action. It reminds me of the scene where IM is freaking out when he’s pressed against the white woman in the subway: one accidental touch can be blown completely out of context.

     Have you ever been at a strip show and looked into the dancer’s eyes more than any other body part? Have you ever immediately thought about how a girl’s incestuous rape would affect you? Your answers to these questions may directly relate to your race. And if you’re the protagonist in Ralph Ellison’s novel Invisible Man, the answers to these questions are yes and yes. Ellison argues that The Invisible Man’s experience as an African American man shapes the way he thinks about sex, sexual violence, and acts in sexually charged situations. 

     The first encounter with sexuality in Invisible Man is at the Battle Royal scene when the dancer appears. The Invisible Man recalls, “I wanted at one [of her nipples] and the same time to run from the room, to sink through the floor, or go to her and cover her from my eyes and the caress her and destroy her, to love her and murder her” (19). The Invisible Man is attracted to the dancer like the white men at the hotel and even holds sexually violent thoughts about her. However, he also wants to look away from her, most likely because he knows the long history of black men being lynched for supposedly raping white women. The Invisible Man’s reality as a black man means he is not proud about his attraction towards the dancer. It’s dangerous for the Invisible Man to interact with or think about the white dancer because any supposed encounter with her could be his death sentence.  He cannot guilelessly treat her as a sexual object and his standing as an African American man affects how the Invisible Man and his peers behave towards the dancer.. This is especially apparent when the dancer is nearly raped. Ellison writes, “the men began reaching out to touch her. I could see their beefy fingers sink into the soft flesh… They caught her… tossed her twice… I… head[ed] for the anteroom with the rest of the boys… some were crying in hysteria” (20). The novel implies that only the white men attempt to rape the dancer because throughout the chapter they town’s white elites are always referred to as “the men” while the black students there to fight are “the boys.” The Invisible Man’s description of heading to the anteroom also implies that he and the other boys weren’t involved in the attack but left to get away. Part of the reason why the boys don’t have the (ludicrous) privilege to touch whomever they want. Quickly touching a white woman, not to mention violently assaulting her, could end these boys’ lives.  

     The Invisible Man and his peers’ social standing as black men also affect their range of sympathy and empathy towards victims of sexual violence.  The Invisible Man further describes the dancer’s attempted rape, saying, “Above her red, fixed smiling lips I saw the terror and disgust in her eyes, almost like my own terror and that which I saw in the other boys… some [of the boys] were still crying and in hysteria” (20). The Invisible Man and the boys empathize with the dancer. Like her, they face violence by white men and are at their mercy. Empathy towards the dancer is specifically afforded because the dancer’s attackers are white. Later, The Invisible Man’s talks about his feelings towards Trueblood, the black man who claims to have raped and impregnated his daughter.  The only fleshed out comment The Invisible Man interjects into the narrative in between Trueblood’s story is, “How can [Trueblood] tell this to white men… when he says all Negros will do such things” (58)? Instead of sympathizing or empathizing with the Trueblood’s daughter, a victim of sexual violence like with the dancer, The Invisible Man is concerned about how the rape story will negatively impact the black community. The Invisible Man’s social standing as a black man veils him from feeling sympathy towards Matty Lou. The rapist in this story is black – unlike the white attackers at the Battle Royal. But more importantly, his mind is preoccupied by fear of how Trueblood’s story will affect the entire black race. Any feelings of sympathy he could have garnered towards the rape victim are blocked because The Invisible Man is rightfully fearful of how the white, racist world will attribute Trueblood’s actions to all black people. 

     Invisible Man argues that African Americans’ relationship and approach to sexuality is directly tied to their low social standing and their lives as constant victims of racism. The implication is heartbreaking as it shows one of the more hidden ways in which the black community is chained and how racism can affect every aspect of one’s life. However, the “end goal” for African American men shouldn’t be to become as sexually liberated as the white men in Invisible Man who freely attack the dancer. Balancing sexual freedom and proper restraint is a tricky issue, but perhaps the first step is the most and least obvious: have universal human respect. White men respecting both women and the black race could enable the latter group to become sexually free in thought and action without gaining the white man’s current freedom and “right” to be sexual predators. Less freedom for white men will equal more freedom for black men and make women safer. Like usual, the white men hold the most power to inflict change with the least incentive to do good. 

The Invisible String

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The invisible man has now been assigned to be Lucius Brockway’s assistant. He initially thought that the paint was being made in building #1 with Kimbro but according to Brockway, the real work is at the bottom, the basement, where the base of the paint is made. Brockway tells The Invisible Man, “without what I do they couldn’t do nothing… caint a single doggone drop of paint move out of the factory lessen it comes through Lucius Brockway’s hands.” Although there are many workers in the paint factory that has gone through schooling including a scholar referred to as an engineer and took over his position when he was away on sick leave, no one can take his job or do it as well as Brockway. The “Old Man Sparland” who according to Brockway is the head of everyone, he himself asked Brockway to not retire because the company needs him. No one might admit it, unless it’s in conversation secluded, but Black folks are the base of establishments and successful enterprises.

“We are the machines inside the machine”, said Brockway to The Invisible Man, Brockway was telling him to make sure to keep an eye in the gauges because they rise at any minute and can cause an explosion. Although the higher ups think they have it all figured out with these new fancy machines,  the workers are actually the machines and put the machines to work and control what happens. This idea of having something else control the other although in one perspective it is the machine in charge ties into the invisible strings being pulled. Bledsoe has also told The Invisible Man that it isn’t the white people who are running the school and making it what it is, it is actually Bledsoe who runs the white people and runs the schoool. He’s in control, he’s in charge, just like Brockway is in charge, not the machines, not the people on the higher floors who believe their job is more important than what Brockway’s job is.

When we see in the later pages of the book, in the scene where the Invisible Man walks into a meeting hosted by the union, he is exposed to a new thinking of Brockway. According to Brockway, he is the head although he’s literally in the bottom of the building and making the base, he is the top of the company because he knows more than anyone else and if it wasn’t for him, there wouldn’t be any of this “Optic White” paint. The Invisible Man now encounters people who actually hate him for even working for Brockway. They say “… it seems to me that anybody that would work under that sonofabitching, double-crossing Brockway for more than fifteen minutes is just as apt as not to be naturally fink-minded”. Before even letting The Invisible Man explain anything, he is given this face that he himself doesn’t even recognize. He isn’t even given a chance but immediately associated with another persons troubles.  This notion of interepretted through others reminds me of Zora. Her views were different from her entire peoples. She didn’t want to be just a struggle or seen as someone to cry over or laugh historically at jokes she says, she just wants to be herself and honored for being Zora, she isn’t just black, she’s Zora, she likes to dance she has different qualities, she’s not her color. Here in this scene, The Invisible Man is just thrown against a fence and slapped with remarks about himself when he doesn’t even know anything about their establishment. He’s a new employee, a clean fresh person, but he is associated automatically as a negative being because of who he’s working with.

Once again, his strings are being pulled by others, including unknown persons.

(In)visibility in Chapters 5-12

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This section of Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison focuses heavily on themes brought up in Fanon’s writing (as well as that of other authors we have read so far); namely the interplay of visibility and vision with perception and consciousness.  Symbols of vision in these chapters vary, but tell the audience a lot about the narrator’s psyche and give us clues about the path he takes to end up as the narrator from the introduction.

One of the most obvious symbols is blindness, most clearly illustrated in Pastor Barbee’s sermon at the university. He stands before the crowd, chronicling the fantastic and unbelievable achievements of the Founder, painting such a vivid, visceral, and moving scene with his words that audience members begin to cry and shout out (pp 97). However, both the fantastic nature and convenient moral of these stories suggest that they may be exaggerated if not entirely too good to be true. After all, what are the odds of surviving a gunshot to the head due to the help of a mysterious stranger and a  seemingly demented black man” with “ a surprising knowledge of such matters“? (pp 95) How did the founder seem to be so unaffected by race in a time that was so clearly riddled with racism and discrimination? Furthermore, the constant stress of race throughout this speech, (both on some white people as allies and on some black people as foes to the cause) and the emphasis to pull oneself up by the bootstraps (pp 103) are reminiscent of the narrator’s earlier speech about the future success of black Americans hinging on their ability to know their place and cooperate with white Americans. Together, these facts suggest that this story may be being twisted in order to fit the college’s agenda of pleasing its white donors. This is further supported by Dr. Blesdoe’s later statements concerning power at the college being acquired by lying to the white partners and telling them what they want to hear (pp 108). The fact that after leading the congregation on this moving (and on many levels, very visual) journey, Barbee proceeds to trip due to his blindness alludes to the classic idiom of the blind leading the blind, further suggesting that he does not know the truth, but has created a truth (similar to the truth Blesdoe speaks about when reprimanding the narrator [pp 112]).

In a similar vein, Ellison uses distorted vision, mainly in the narrator, as a metaphor for inner turmoil and identity crisis. His inability to see clearly and perceive what is going on during the fight with Brockway is one example of this. Although this fight erupts suddenly, it results from the accumulation of stress over having no say in how he is perceived by others, and in the moment that he lashes out most violently, unable to see the difference between teeth and a knife, the narrator loses sight of who he momentarily. The most intense distortion of his vision, however, comes with the accident in the paint factory and his hospital visit. This is a watermark moment in the narrator’s story (especially given the implication of lobotomy) that changes how he will see himself moving forward, so as that change fully takes hold, he loses his clear perception of the world around him.

Finally, there is the vision of others. Particularly important are the scenes where the narrator is being viewed or not viewed. As the novel’s title would suggest, most people do not see the invisible man as he truly is — the refusal of the white professionals with whom Blesdoe connects him to even come out of their offices to see him is the most poignant example of this. They see a paper, a profile, not a man. When he talks to the director of the paint company, vision is only mentioned in reference to moments where the narrator is acting strangely (not a true representation of who the narrator is), and mostly seem to focus on the unease of the director. Finally, there are the interactions between the union members, the narrator, and Brockway. The narrator is not allowed to represent or even speak for himself — instead, he is characterized by the assumptions of these characters based on the actions of people other than himself (the finks or the black unionists, respectively). In his words:

“ It was as though by entering

the room I had automatically applied for membership — even though I had

no idea that a union existed, and had come up simply to get a cold pork

chop sandwich. I stood trembling, afraid that they would ask me to join but

angry that so many rejected me on sight. And worst of all, I knew they were

forcing me to accept things on their own terms, and I was unable to leave.” (pp 172)

That being said, there are those who do seem to see him more truly and directly, such as Miss Mary, who can see that he needs help and is willing to offer it. She sees his potential, sees his personhood, and is able to act as a “constant” in his life. However, there are occasions where what she sees in him is the future and the change that she hopes the black youth of the country (and particularly of the South) will usher in. Despite her relatively clear vision, even Mary can lose sight of who the narrator is, giving rise to his moments of frustration with her as he counts on her to be a constant as he figures out who he is for himself.

BLOG THREE

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Professor  Allred

Respond three

 

Fighting the stereotypes and be seen for an actual human being .

 

    In the invisible man Ralph Ellison itemize the mere fact that true hard work one can regain their true identity if one choose to either become apart of whites expectation or simple learn from their kind how to overcome the unfair treatment thrown upon them . Like Dr. Bledsoe , the narrator is working hard to achieve  a successful repetition within the white race .As shown in today’s black society the word “ invisible “ is stemmed from black people being hidden due to their race , social class , religion and more so gender and ethnicity .

    It is shown  in chapters five where Barbee who deliver an exceptional and passionate  speech was actually blind wore a dark glasses when giving his speech hiding one’s  true identity. One can say there is a contradiction been shown that of which a novel high on true vision and identity will give concerns for  a man who’s physical well being and inability to see as become an questionable factor which throws his speech off.   

Moreover, the narrator as become a threat to his own kind as Dr.Bledsoe became angry at him for taking Mr,Norton to to the old slave quarters which he did as he was told and is highly upset that the narrator is incapable of lying  . As the novel continues to reveal some salient themes such as : lies , memory past and power , a young black man trying and stuggling through all odds to gain self discovery and understand is own identity is seemingly being faced with heartful disappointment believing in the wrong people .One can say it is shown in chapter nine that the narrator had a eye opener which geared  him from being so naive led him to see that even those of your same ethnicity can make you feel more invisible than white probably would .Upon being introduced to Emerson Jr. who bought to is attention that there is also injustice not only from whites towards black but from blacks towards blacks , Ellison uses the simplest yet vivid examples to differentiate the social class present to African Americans and whites whether it be coming from the south to the north as the narrator travel thinking he was given the highest level of recommendations to help him rise above the limitations and expectations thrown upon blacks instead the letter states the complete opposite of what he stand for leaving narrator feeling a sense of revenge and resentment towards Dr. Bledsoe .  

The narrator also  embarks on a journey where he is exposed to betrayal of  a brotherhood who question is sense of belonging .For example , “Proud to resist the pork chops and grits .It was an act of discipline , a sign of the change that was coming over me …..” ( 178) .During this time there was an urgency leading towards blacks using their energy for acceptance to gain economic success other than fighting fire with fighter and the controversial yet unsettling issues against black Americans and social equality .The world is that of possibilities one can truly unfolds and discover things only if you stand for who you are and what you believe in .

Bledsoe’s Mask

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Through the character of Bledsoe, Ellison shows how the concept of race functions in order to provide certain types of people with power and privilege. Bledsoe represents not only that upholding the idea of race supports white privilege, but that race can also be manipulated in order to uphold individual power. While it is evident that this power can cause white people to feel certain anxieties, Ellison explores the extent at which black people experience race. Not only does Bledsoe actively uphold race when he is in contact with white people, he is convinced that he must maintain his power even at the cost of others. Ultimately, Bledsoe’s approach to racism is an adaptation to his circumstances as he feels as though he must sacrifice the reputation of others in order to maintain his power to continue being able to pull the strings of the wealthy white men who think they are in charge. Bledsoe’s ability to manipulate race for his benefit seems like one of the most practical way to adapt to Southern society during the time the book takes place in for the advancement of social power for African Americans, but only comes at the expense of his individual freedom.

When Bledsoe chooses to expel the narrator, it becomes clear that although he claims to have indisputable power, it is only maintained through the creation of a false image of himself as a “superior” black man and the upholding of negative perceptions of black people which he says whites want to believe. He believes that the only way to maintain any sort of power is by giving white people what they really want, regardless of what they may think they want. The narrator’s failure to lie to Mr. Norton and show him parts of the campus which will “uplift the race” and instead show Mr. Norton the realities of the school lead Bledsoe to believe that although Mr. Norton says that he understands the narrator is not at fault, he still expects him to face consequences. Bledsoe feels no remorse for expelling the narrator and admits “I’ll have every Negro in the country hanging on tree limbs by morning if it means staying where I am” (143). Once the narrator reaches New York, he realizes that Bledsoe never had the intention of letting the narrator return to the college and no longer believes that he is capable of attaining the type of power Bledsoe has since he is not willing to make the sacrifices Bledsoe makes. Instead, he believes the narrator is on a different path and will find his own way to understand race in his life.