Examples of Symbolism in Invisible Man
John Brownridge
Throughout Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison likes to use different forms of symbolism to represent what the Narrator is going through. Two of the most recent examples of this are the racist figurine he finds in his room, and the broken chain that is given to him by Brother Tarp. In this blog post, I will basically explain the significance of these physical representations of the Narrator’s current state. (This isn’t going to be an extremely coherent argument about Invisible Man and its symbolism, just me explaining what I think these two items represent.)
In Chapter 15, the Narrator wakes up the day after taking his job with the Brotherhood, he wakes up and finds a strange object near his door which he had never noticed before. It’s an Americana coin bank, which was basically a racist depiction of black people that was fairly common during that time period. It is pretty safe to say that the Narrator is Not happy to see this. “Then near the door I saw something which I’d never noticed there before [...] For a second I stopped, feeling hate charged within me, then dashed over and grabbed it, suddenly as enraged by the tolerance or lack of discrimination, or whatever, that allowed Mary to keep such a self-mocking image around, as by the knocking.” (319). For the Narrator, the coin bank represents the exact thing the Narrator has spent his whole life trying to get away from. I think the timing of the coin bank showing up is very important. The Narrator only notices the coin back the day after he joins the brotherhood. The Narrator is completely on board with the brotherhood at this point, even though readers of Invisible Man start to have their doubts about the organization. The Narrator goes on to try to get rid of the coin bank multiple times to no avail, and ends up shoving it in his briefcase and never thinking about it again. From this point on, the Narrator is carrying the figurine wherever he goes, while his life revolves around the brotherhood. I think this reveals that the Brotherhood isn’t a perfect organization that is genuinely interested in bringing peace, but an organization with ulterior motives that view the Narrator not too differently from the rest of the world.
Later on, after the Narrator really hits his stride with the Brotherhood, he has a conversation with Brother Tarp. During this conversation, Brother Tarp reveals that he had spent a significant portion of his life in a chain gang because he said “No” to a white man. He gives the Narrator one of his chains that he had to break out of to escape from that horrible life. I think this shows that Brother Tarp is one of the only people in the Brotherhood that is really on the side of the Narrator, and really understands what the Narrator is in the Brotherhood for. The Narrator wants to break through the chains of society that hold him back from being successful because of his race. I also think the chain represents why the Brotherhood is not on the side of the Narrator. Brother Wrestrum tells the narrator that the chain is bad because it dramatizes the differences between blacks and whites. I think his mindset more accurately represents the values of the Brotherhood than Brother Tarp’s. The Brotherhood refuses to recognize how race intersects with the rest of the problems the Brotherhood wants to address, and they make sure that the Narrator doesn’t express his core beliefs in his speeches, which is one of the ways the Brotherhood is actually keeping the Narrator in chains.
Great post! I like how you focused on two specific examples of symbolism. It gives you a lot of space to expand. Your use of evidence to support your claims is also good. Your post is easy to follow, yet still intrigues my mind.
ReplyDeleteHey John, in this blog post I think you've done an excellent job outlining the presence of the figurine and the broken chain, and the meaning behind each of the items. An interesting point you brought up was how the moment the figurine was introduced in the novel, also contributed towards its significance. I never through to explore this aspect of symbolism so I like how you brought up a unique interpretation. A few other items I would add to your list are the briefcase, the yam, and the founder statue. Overall, great job!
ReplyDeleteYou make some good points about Brother Tarp and his unique status within the Brotherhood as a seemingly genuine person who believes deeply in the ideals that the group represents. He is one of the most unambiguously positive characters in the novel, and he never seems "cartoonish" or grotesque in the way that so many others do, and he gives the narrator this deeply meaningful personal memento of his own personal struggle--most readers have a good sense of what he means when he says it's a "reminder of what we're fighting against."
ReplyDeleteHis disappearance when the narrator returns to Harlem is as disturbing as Clifton's, although no one seems to be searching for him or even thinking about him anymore. The narrator gets increasingly disillusioned by the B'hood in the last chapters, and especially by their willingness to "sacrifice" the Harlem membership in the interests of the larger organization. We can see Tarp as one of the good people who believed the Brotherhood's line and committed to the organization but was just being used by them all along--when he's no longer needed, he disappears back into the anonymous crowds. It's a pretty stark example of the novel's harsh view of organized political activism.