In Chapter 18 of The Invisible Man, the title character is gifted a significant item by another member of the brotherhood, Brother Tarp. The gift is that of a piece of the chain that imprisoned the elderly brotherhood member for almost two decades, for simply saying “No” to a white man. There are several reasons for the significance of the chain-link, including the most obvious which represents the racial inequalities that were experienced by black men during the time of the novel. However, there are subtle uses and mentions of the chain link throughout the chapter and briefly in chapter 19 that give away to deeper interpretations of the item in relation to the story as a whole.

When gifting the Invisible Man with the chain-link, Brother Tarp recalls his experience in the south, the origin place of the narrator. Brother Tarp makes a revelation that stunned both the narrator and myself as the reader. He claims that he walks with a limp due to his dragging of the chain several years ago. According to the elderly man, doctors do not find anything wrong with his leg, so he is sure that his imprisonment is the reason for it. I found this to be a significant moment because he tells the narrator that it happened for exactly 19 years, six months, and two days. In this exchange, two things were revealed. One being that tarp is still paying for the “mistake” he made in negating something to a white man. He put up boundaries, but as a black man was punished for said actions and although he was able to free himself from the prison, there are still remnants of it that have become a part of his life even in the present. His limp serving as almost a simulation of a shackle he now only carries metaphorically. It is also necessary to observe that he was imprisoned for almost two decades, not for murder, but for simply not being a complacent black man in a society that not only expected him, but would have forced him to be.

In questioning Brother Tarp about his motives for giving the narrator his chain link, Tarp reveals that he sees the narrator as a token and to “remind you what we are fighting against”. The elderly brother goes on to discuss how a simple yes or no holds more significance than expected. After the recollection of injustice and escape towards freedom, it seems as though the narrator does not fully grasp the distinct implications of the chain, as he refers to it as a “lucky piece of chain”. He even goes further in comparing it to the pocket watch heirloom he would have received had he stayed in the South. When the conversation comes to an end, the chain-link that was balanced upon the narrator’s knuckles falls onto the cryptic note he received in the mail. I interpreted the subtle decision by the author as an accentuation of the bigger picture. By having the chain fall on top of the cryptic note that urged IM to “go slow”, the author suddenly highlights the chains that have been put on black men by, not only society, but by other members of the black community. In a way the Invisible Man was not allowed his freedom even in the Brotherhood.

Another subtle instance in which the author uses the chain link to insinuate something larger, is soon after while the narrator is working at the Brotherhood. Of all the ways that could be used to describe the chain, the author uses “oily and skin like”, using it as a reminder to the main character of what he is working to fight against. I found those specific adjectives interesting. At the moment in time in which they were used, I interpreted it to represent the narrators awareness of what he was doing and why. He was thinking about the people in the communities that he serves, so when he touched the chain it was personified and, in a way, showed his brief understanding of it in contrast to his disposition beforehand with Brother Tarp. Moments later, however, the suspicious note covers the chain. Moving the narrator’s focus from his mission to his need to be liked and excepted by his comrades.

Later, in the following chapter, the chain-link is mentioned after the narrator finds himself in the home of a married white woman. In the scene with her, the tables are somewhat turned in contrast to his experience in chapter 1. There, the naked white woman he saw was objectified and humiliated by white men to further his humiliation along with the other black boys. However, in chapter 19 it is the narrator who is perceived as less than. The woman begins by offering him the choice between milk, like an animal, or wine, like a respectable human being. This confuses IM, but highlights the idea that he is the one being used for a white woman’s enjoyment now. The violence that the Invisible Man craves in response to his simultaneous desire for the woman is ever present in this chapter as it was in the first. When all is done, he finds himself nervous about the events that have transpired and upon receiving a phone call from the married white woman, “toys with the chain link in his pocket”. This subtlety reveals the idea discussed by the narrator prior, of duty versus desire and represents the shackles placed upon, not only black men, but men in general through lust and desire. This is a powerful moment because feminism and women is not some thing that is discussed in depth throughout the novel or is acknowledged in the narrator’s world, as he is sent to speak to the women as punishment from the brotherhood. However, although it is not obvious, the connection to the shackle and the woman gives her a power that was absent for the woman described at the start of the novel.

There are many moments of Invisible Man that feel so relevant to the present day that can really cause a reader to stop in their tracks. The first of one of these moments for me was when the Invisible Man makes his truly moving and profound speech during the old couple’s eviction. In a way, much of what was represented in the scene and said in this speech foreshadowed what is later talked about at the end of Chapter 20, the disillusioned place in history that the Invisible Man senses African Americans are succumbing to. 

The way Ellison symbolizes black history in the scene is through the various stuff that belongs to the old couple that is thrown on the sidewalk by the white eviction officers. The Invisible Man when he first sees the pile of stuff refers to it as “like a lot of junk waiting to be hauled away” as these various, seemingly insignificant items are just cluttering the sidewalk (278). When he more closely examines these things he can clearly get a sense of the timeline of the lives of the elderly couple. Some of these items the couple owned were “knocking bones” an instrument used in minstrel shows and a commemorative plate of St. Louis World’s Fair which was one of the largest human zoos in history, all these items going back to a declaration of their freedom by a slave owner (282-283). This all makes it clear that the timeline of the couple is not just a timeline of them, but a timeline of black history. The couple’s possessions are really what move the Invisible Man to make his speech, they are really the catalyst for it, and the speech brings up this idea of the Black community being “dispossessed” which is revisited multiple times later in the novel. 

I view this idea of dispossession as closely relating to the idea of falling out of the white controlled narrative in history. The Invisible Man asserts that the black community is being dispossessed by the white people in power and therefore that is what is actively oppressing them and keeping them on the outskirts of history. The fact that the objects that are the catalyst for his speech are representations of black history can further cement this idea. In addition to this, there are so many symbolic representations of this scene that can be made to directly point at the idea of black history being suppressed and ignored. 

The officer who is throwing these items on the street, these symbols of history, is white, symbolizing both the authority held by white people and their active suppression of blacks. The Invisible Man first sees the items as just junk on the street because they are thrown to be perceived in that way by the white officer. This instance shows how white people set the societal boundary to what is perceived normal, to what may be overlooked, to who gets to stay written in history. The speech that the Invisible Man makes feels like a plea for his community to realize this dispossession and to actively take back their place in history. 

Even though in the book, he is going off the cuff and hasn’t fully formed these ideas during the eviction speech, by the end of Chapter 20, many of what he is saying is aligning with this idea. This suggests that this scene with the objects, the very actions of these symbols of black history being tossed on the ground, is an act of foreshadowing to the Invisible Man’s later revelation on the importance of exclusionary narratives in history.

Throughout the novel, the invisible man went through numerous events that changed his ideology from being a good citizen going with the flow to being more open and analytic. This progression is visible through analyzing the “stuff” he owned and encountered. An example of this is Clifford’s dancing paper sambo doll. “He’s Sambo, the dancing doll, ladies and gentlemen. Shake him, stretch him by the neck, and set him down- he’ll do the rest…and all for twenty-five cents.” The doll itself symbolized how African Americans are viewed by society, mainly by the white community. It is a flashback to slavery in which they were seen as objects rather than individuals. After all, African Americans were purchased similar to how Clifford’s dolls are obtainable “all for twenty-five cents.” As the Sambo dolls shake and dance for its viewers’ entertainment, African Americans were bought in the past as entertainment to white men. It is a perspective of masters and slaves, superior to inferior.

Seeing the Sambo doll, the narrator was taken aback, offended by the sight. “I felt betrayed. I looked at the doll and felt my throat constrict. The rage welled behind the phlegm as I rocked back on my heels and crouched forward.” Clifford, who was a former member of the Brotherhood wielding the doll shows how he is accepting of his fate in this racist society. The mentality of going with the flow ad being a good citizen, as the narrator was in the beginning. Seeing this and being hurt by it shows his growth, how he fully accept his grandfather’s warning to “live your head in the lion’s mouth.”

Another important aspect of the Sambo doll is the near-invisible strings that controlled its movements. ” I saw a fine black thread and pulled it from the frilled paper. There was a loop tied in the end. I slipped it over my finger and stood stretching it taut. And this time it danced. Clifford has been making it dance all the time and the black thread has been invisible.” The realization of how Clifford mad the samba doll dance is also a realization of how society and things are moved and influence. As he later realized during a meeting in the Brotherhood that he wanted to attend, he was left out. As he failed to see especially in the earlier chapters, there are more to things that are visible. This realization has opened his eyes and mind, allowed him to be more analytic.

Conclusively, the narrator showed tremendous growth throughout the novel. One way to view this is by analyzing the objects in the novel that he encountered and possessed. An example of this object is the samba dancing doll that Clifford sold for twenty-five cents. The samba doll being controlled is parallel to slavery and being controlled by the likes of Clifford shows the acceptance of the black stereotypes. The narrator being offended and feeling betrayed by this is a show of his growth. Additionally, his ability to see how the doll is controlled by invisible strings displays how he has become more open-minded and analytic.

In chapter 13 of the book the invisible man stumbles upon some things just thrown into the sidewalk. At first glance he thinks it’s just junk. Then he sees and old woman crying and pointing at the items. He realizes that they are her possessions and are being thrown out by two white men. 

After sticking around for a while he learns that the old couple is being evicted and sees there’s something wrong about that. He starts to look at the items on the ground and memories are coming back to him. When he looks at the possessions closely he now realizes how this couple feels. He says “And it was as though I was being dispossessed of some painful yet precious thing which I could not bear to lose; something confounding like a rotted tooth that one would rather suffer indefinitely than endure the short, violent eruption of pain that would mark its removal” (Pg. 273). What he is saying here is that he feels like he is being deprived himself. He feels like he can relate because he treats the situation as if this was his own grandmother. He assumes that she was somebody’s mom because he sees the breast pump. 

Things start to get more chaotic when one of the white men strikes the old woman because she wanted to go back into the building and pray. The invisible man is angry at this and so is the crowd of people around. The crowd of people want to go and attack this man and The invisible man wants to do this at first too. But he stops himself and the crowd and says “We’re a law-abiding people” (Pg. 275). He doesn’t want the crowd to fight fire with fire because he knows that they will be the ones to get arrested despite the fact that the white man struck first. He knows that you can’t solve this situation with violence because who does that help. He wants to help this old couple in a nice and friendly manner. The longer he’s there he realizes how important these items are and that they’re not just junk but something that defines a person. Something that shows who they are and he wants to make sure this couple keeps their items. 

The invisible man feels connected to these possessions because not only do they have pieces of African American culture but they say something about society. The way these possessions are just thrown out without a care sort of shows the way black people were being treated. Towards the end of this situation its not just about the couple anymore but about racial discrimination. The invisible man says “So who’s being dispossessed? Can it be us?” (Pg 279). He is saying that all of us are going through this, it’s not just involving this old couple, it’s involving all black people. Black people have been oppressed for so long and this issue of oppression is still going on today. In this scene the more the invisible man explorers the more he learns what’s happening and the real actions that are taking place.