The+Invisible+Man+as+a+traitor+in+society

= = In the first chapter of the novel, the Invisible Man talks about his grandfather's death and the last words he said to him about what it entails to be a traitor in a white man's society. Through out the novel, he continuously finds himself going back to his grandfather's words to figure out what they actually mean. As the story progresses, the Invisible comes to terms with his place in society by recognizing what is going on around him within the races. Through this, he forms his own ideas of being a 'traitor' through the meaning behind his grandfather's words. In order to figure out if the Invisible Man was actually considered a traitor to his race, we researched the attitudes and philosophies of the newly freed slaves and the African American identity that emerged from the Reconstruction Era to the period after World War I.
 * __The Invisible Man as a Traitor in a "White Man's" Society __**

** The Invisible Man as a traitor through out the text: **

 * //"I could never be sure of what he meant. Grandfather had been a quiet old man who never made any trouble, yet on his deathbed he had called himself a traitor and a spy, and he had spoken of his meekness as a dangerous activity. It became a constant puzzle which lay unanswered at the back of my mind. And whenever things went well for me I remembered my grandfather and felt guilty and uncomfortable. It was as though I carried out his advice in spite of myself. And to make it worse, everyone loved me for it. I was praised by the most lily-white men of the town. I was considered an example of desirable conduct- just as my grandfather had been. And what puzzled me was that the old man had defined it as treachory."// (pages 16-17)

In the beginning of the novel, the Invisible Man reflects back to his roots and what has come to define him over the years. This is the first mention of him as a traitor in society and he takes it in with many questions. As the book begins, the Invisible Man does not understand what is so 'wrong' about being the white man's favorite until he realizes at the end, that he has given up things in himself to just attempt to get to that point. At the close of the novel, the Invisible Man recognizes that by not being true to his heritage, race, and himself he is being a traitor and appeasing to the white men who had appeared to want something from him, when in reality they were only looking for their own personal gain (i.e. the Brotherhood).


 * //""You see," he said turning to Mr. Norton, "he has eyes and ears and a good disended African nose, but he fails to understand the simple facts of life. Understand. Understand? It's worse then that. He registers with his senses but short-circuits his brain. Nothing has meaning. He takes it in but he doesn't digest it. Already he is- well, bless my soul! Behold! a walking zombie! Already he's learned to repress not only his emotions but his humanity. He's invisible, a walking personification of the Negative, the most perfect achievement of your dreams, sir! The mechanical man!"// (page 94)

This quote is said by the 'insane' war veteran who has helped Mr. Norton return to conciousness. The irony of this situation is that while the veteran seems crazy to all those around him, he is speaking the truth about the race issue in America at this specific time. In other words, he tells Mr. Norton that the only reason this man is his destiny is because he was created and educated in such a way that he does whatever the white man says. The veteran tells the Invisible Man that he is a "walking zombie" and a "mechanical man" because he sees right away that he allows Mr. Norton to walk all over him while the he is oblivious to what exactly is going on. The idea the veteran brings to the table extends not only to the Invisible Man, but to the race as a whole. It can be inferred that through giving in to the white man and his demands makes the Invisible Mana traitor to his society and allows him to put down his race's goals in order to satisfy the whites (aka Mr. Norton).


 * //"And I remembered too that whenever white guests came upon the platform he placed his hand upon them as though exercising a powerful magic. I watched his teeth flash as he took a white hand; then, with all seated, he went to his place at the end of the row of chairs."// (page 115)

As the Invisible Man gets in trouble with the school, he realizes that the Dr. Bledsoe who he thought was all about the race was actually just letting the white man win for his own personal gain in life. The Invisible Man notably points out the differences in his behavior and the act put on as described in the above quote whenever Dr. Bledsoe comes into contact with a highly thought about white man or woman. When the Invisible Man gets angry and fires back at Dr. Bledsoe when he expells him, Dr. Bledsoe makes it clear that he would hang african american people before losing his job because of his mistake. This is like a slap in the face to the Invisible Man who has looked up to him for so long, and he finally gets a glimpse of him as 'traitor.' Dr. Bledsoe seems to be a great example of the grandfather's definition of traitor because although he appears to be doing good for the school and its students, he is letting the white society win in the end by always giving them what they want without any questions asked.


 * //"How had I come to this? I had kept unswervingly to the path placed before me, had tried to [[image:invisible_man.jpg align="left"]]be exactly what I was expected to be, had done exactly what I was expected to do- yet, instead of winning the expected reward, here I was stumbling along, holding on desperatly to one of my eyes in order to keep from bursting out my brain against some familiar object swerved into my path by distorted vision. And now to drive me wild I felt suddenly that my grandfather was hovering over me, grinning triumphantly out of the dark. I simply could not endure it." (//page 147)
 * This is the first real time in the book where the Invisible Man seems to realize that what he is doing to be great in a white society, is not helping him but rather has screwed him over. Even though he gives the white man what he wants and works hard to make his way in the world, he still was expelled from the school when he tried to do everything he could to make Mr. Norton happy. Even though he doesnt realize the idea full circle yet, his grandfather's words hang over him in a way where the reader can recognize that he is doing exactly what his grandfather said not to do- be a traitor.
 * This is the first real time in the book where the Invisible Man seems to realize that what he is doing to be great in a white society, is not helping him but rather has screwed him over. Even though he gives the white man what he wants and works hard to make his way in the world, he still was expelled from the school when he tried to do everything he could to make Mr. Norton happy. Even though he doesnt realize the idea full circle yet, his grandfather's words hang over him in a way where the reader can recognize that he is doing exactly what his grandfather said not to do- be a traitor.


 * //"Perhaps the part of me that observed listlessly but saw all, missing nothing, was still the malicious, arguing part; the dissenting voice, my grandfather part; the cynical, disbelieving part- the traitor self that always thereatened internal discord. Whatever it was, I knew that I'd have to keep it pressed down. I had to."// (page 335)

This quote said by the Invisible Man really describes how he is breaking out of his white cycle in a way. Although he attempts to keep his true voice hidden for the sake of society around him, he sees that within himself there is turmoil and anger that has been locked up because of what is 'expected' of him. Even though he tries to ignore the issues going on around him, in reality he sees everything that is going on and recognizes that its unjust even though he still tries to repress the social responsibility he feels. Shortly after this, he makes a speech when the african american family in Harlem is being evicted and goes on with the Brotherhood to rally the people. He finds this speeches make him "more human" (Ellison, 354) and maybe that is because for once he wasn't being a traitor to himself or his people. Maybe, the Invisible Man feels more human because he let his true nature show and gave what the race needed, not the white man.


 * //"What is a traitor, Brother?" I asked, feeling an angry amusement as I counted on my fingers. "He was a man and a Negro; a man and a brother; a man and a traitor, as you say; then he was a dead man, and alive or dead he was a jam-full of contradictions. So full that he attracted half of Harlem to come out an stand in the sun in answer to our call. So what is a traitor?"// (page 467)

This quote said by the Invisible Man after Cliftons death displays him to finally stand up to the authority which has dictated his intentions and life for so long. He finally realizes that even though Clifton may have appeared a traitor to the brotherhood, he made the decision to not be a traitor to himself nor his people by taking a stand which he felt was necessary. Even as a traitor to Jack, the Invisible Man realizes that Clifton clearly did something right by attracting all of Harlem and his 'people' to his funeral. The Invisible Man saw the need of change in the African American's eyes and realized that although Clifton wasn't perfect, he was a good man in the sense he brought his people together and that traitor or not he should be remembered.


 * //"I didnt know what my grandfather had meant, but I was ready to test his advice. I'd overcome them with yeses, undermine them with grins, I'd agree them to death and destruction. Yes, and I'd let them swollew me until they vomited or burst wide open. Let them gag on what they refused to see. Let them choke on it."// (page 508)
 * //"And I had been used as a tool. My grandfather had been wrong about yessing them to death and destruction or else things had changed too much since his day."// (page 564)

These quotes go together in the sense that they parallel off of one another. The Invisible Man tries to "yes" them to death to hurt the Brotherhood in the end, but realizes by not doing anything he has been used as a tool of destruction for the people of Harlem by the Brotherhood. It seems as if the Invisible Man took his grandfather's words too literally about yessing them to death, or he didn't see the full picture and was only trying to do what he felt was right for his people. Either way, the Invisible Man is not seen as a traitor to his people here, because he was only trying to do the right thing for them and it just happened to turn out for the worse. It is in this section of the novel that the Invisible Man realizes that even with trying to do the right thing, the destruction of Harlem was what the Brotherhood wanted to use the African American's uproar for their own advantages later. This example only furthers why the Invisible Man realizes that the white society sees them as invisible because even though a prominent black figure may stand out, at the end of the day they are back to just being a color that society appears to never see through. The realizations that the Invisible Man comes to about this situation allows him to realize that maybe his grandfathers words are more then yessing them to death, and that to truly not be a traitor one must be true to themself.


 * //"Hang the lying traitor," Ras shouted. "What are you waiting for?"// (page 558)

This quote said by Ras the destroyer about the Invisible Man is just plain funny. While Ras seems to be calling the Invisible Man a traitor because he worked with the Brotherhood which a lot of whites are in, he is going against people of his own color. Instead of coming together as a whole with all blacks to make something work for them, he is causing riots and destruction which only further the stereotypes of African Americans being "barbaric." Ras has not realized like the Invisible Man that the riots themselves are 'traitors' to the people of Harlem because they are only going along with the Brotherhood's plan to push back their progress by taking control of the situation afterwards.


 * //"And my problem was that I always tried to go in everyone's way but my own. I have also been called one thing and then another while no one really wished to hear what I called myself. So after years of trying to adopt the opinions of others I finally rebelled. I am an invisible man. Thus I have come a long way and returned and boomeranged a long way from the point in society toward which I originally aspired."// (page 573)

While this quote has no references to a traitor, it is extremely important to the whole context of being one. As the Invisible Man describes, he had never really allowed himself to define or choose what he wanted to be through letting whites, society, and standards dictate who he was. After going through this whole extravagant story, it seems as if the realization of being what he truly is, an invisible man, allows him to let go of himself as a 'traitor' which his grandfather described through finally recognizing that he was true to himself as a black man. Even though he had made mistakes in the past, the Invisible Man makes the promise at the end of the novel to re-emerge out of his hole to benefit society, leaving behind the traitor motif he had once seen in himself.


 * //"Perhaps he hid his meaning deeper than I thought, perhaps his anger threw me off- I can't decide. Could he havent meant- hell, he must have meant the principle, that we were to affirm the principle on which the country was built and not the men, or at least not the men who did the violence. Did he mean say "yes" because he knew that the principle was greater than the men, greater than the numbers and the vicious power and all the methods used to corrupt its name? Did he mean to affirm the principle, which they themselves had dreamed into being out of chaos and darkness of the feudal past, and which they had violated and compromised to the point of absurdity even in their own corrupt minds? Or did he mean that we had to take the responsibility for all of it, for the men as well as the principle, because we were the heirs who must use the principle because no other fitted our needs? Not for the power or for the vindication, but because we, with the given circumstances of our origin. could only thus find transcendence? Was it that we of all, we, had been brutalized and sacrificed- not because we would always be weak nor because we were afraid or oppurtunistic, but because we were older than they, in the sense of what it took to live in the world with others and because they had exhausted in us, some- not much, but some- of the human greed and smallness, yes, and the fear and superstition that had kept them running."// (page 574)

This quote at the end of the novel appears to be the Invisible Man reflecting on all he has learned throughout the book in response to his grandfather's words that have been with him throughout all these events in his life. He states that maybe it is the deeper principle behind the words that is really important and that the responsibility of it all is what the people have to accept. It seems the responsibility is what the grandfathers words guided the Invisible Man to throughout the whole novel in order to be true to himself and his own race in society. The Invisible Man finds that maybe it is not that his people are weak, but that the fear they hold keep them running from the true meanings of the words that he had once ran from. It appears that to make way for change, one has to accept the responsibility and burden of their place in a white society. It seems as if the grandfather was getting to the Invisible Man through the idea of not being a traitor to oneself, and to accept the issues of your people while still recognizing that you are a black man. The grandfather gets the idea across to the Invisible Man that it is not about appeasing them and yessing them to death, its about undermining and not giving into the white mans needs for the sake of making change for the culture while being true to your own roots.

 == == ===**Attitudes and Philosophies of Newly Freed Slaves and where these attitudes arose from: **===

The historical context of the Invisible Man is the post World War I years. However, understanding the history of African Americans before this time period helps give careful insight into the extremity of the Invisible Man as a “traitor.”

After the Civil War, the Southern states lay in complete ruin. With the emancipation of the slaves, the states were left with the task of reorganizing their government, economy, and most importantly, their society. African Americans achieving freedom meant that a whole race of people would have to conform and adapt to be recognized and respected in a “white man’s society" [6]. The Northern liberals and the African Americans looked upon this freedom with tremendous optimism. One cartoon that characterizes the feelings of these people was created by former slave, Thomas Nast. In this picture, a black family is in essence, living their lives in freedom, while surrounding them is images of their former captivation. However, also contained in the cartoon are images of emancipation: a woman taking her children to public school, a man earning his own money, and a black man singing. The bold, bright word of “emancipation” further symbolizes the emphasis put on being given this tremendous opportunity to actually be a part of society [2].

However, adapting to this society was far from easy. The end of the war and the emancipation of the slaves did not damper the opinions of those who felt the African Americans should be harshly restricted. With this discrimination followed the introduction of the //Black Codes//, a series of laws that prohibited the African Americans from owning property, going out past certain hours (curfew), and forcing them to take agricultural and domestic work (i.e. sharecropping). Similiar to the //Black Codes// was the rise of the //Jim Crow laws//, which established separate facilities for African Americans [6]. In opposition to these harsh restrictions arose the //Freedmen’s Bureau,// which was an organization that tried to help the African Americans find work, housing and education. However, many white Americans viewed this help as a form of welfare and felt that freedom was too heavy of a burden for the African Americans to endure [2]. Despite this, the African Americans made several political gains while the Republicans were in office with the passage of the 14th amendment (which enforced African American equality) and the 15th amendment (which gave them the right to vote). Unfortunately, these gains disappeared as the Southern Democrats took office and bumped the African Americans back to second class citizens yet again [6].

This oppression pushed many African Americans to fight back. Many of them began to follow the teachings of Booker T. Washington. Booker T. Washington believed they should take a “passive” approach to get the respect that they longed for. Washington believed that the African Americans would have to prove to the white men that they were worthy of such freedom [4]. To prove themselves, the Africans Americans would have to continue to work hard and show they were able to take care of themselves. Hard work and economic progress would prove to the whites the value of the African Americans to the economy and their society. He asked African Americans to put aside their immediate demands and activism to wait for slow and steady progress [3].

However, Washington’s support began to fade as his critics looked at his approach as a way for him to encourage the African Americans to give into their inferior status. He pushed them to appease the white Americans in order to gain respect while many believed that the African American race should form their own identity as this time [4]. Booker T. Washington’s views are parallel to how the Invisible Man is trained to think at the beginning of the novel. In this quote on page 197, Jack says to the Invisible Man, ""So it isn't a matter of whether you wish to be the new Booker T. Washington, my friend. Booker Washington was resurrected today at a certain eviction in Harlem. He came out from the anonymity of the crowd and spoke to the people. So you see, I don't joke with you. Or play with words either. There is a scientific explanation for this phenomenon--as our learned brother has graciously reminded me--you'll learn it in time, but whatever you call it the reality of the world crisis is a fact. We are realists here, and materialists. It is a question of who shall determine the direction of events. That is why we've brought you into this room. This morning you answered the people's appeal and we want you to be the true interpreter of the people. You shall be the new Booker T. Washington but even greater than he,"" which marks the beginning of the Invisible Man's involvement in the Brotherhood. Jack's desire for the Invisible Man to become the new Booker T. Washington emphasizes the fact that the Brotherhood's goals were to really manipulate the African Americans into reversing their progress. By telling the Invisible Man to become like Washington, Jack is really telling him to be this "traitor" who in essence, recognizes his inferior status and works to be respected among the superior white community surrounding him. The Invisible Man realizes at the end of the novel that the Brotherhood was not trying to help him but instead they were trying to push him to appease the white men by not taking organized action like Ras and his group of followers. Ras and his group were the ones taking immediate action, however their violence was not the type of action that was needed to bring the race together to fight for change [1].

One of Washington’s critics was W.E.B Dubois. He preached a more active approach that pushed African Americans to take more action against the segregation. He believed that the Southern White people didn’t want the status of black Americans to improve no matter how hard they worked. He helped in forming the //National Association for the Advancement of Colored People// and continued to shape the minds of the fighting African Americans [3].

In the midst of the struggle, World War I fastly approached. Black Americans looked at this time as an opportunity to gain the respect they deserved. Fighting along their white neighbors, African Americans were split into their own military regiments [6]. They looked upon their positions with a source of pride which was eventually tarnished as the grueling war left many of them dead or wounded. Returning home, these African Americans were disheartened to find that they were not heroes in the eyes of their white superiors. They were even more disheartened to find that their fight for equality was far from over. Risking their lives to help the future of the “white man’s world” didn’t gain them any of the rights that W.E.B Dubois, or the NAACP, or African Americans everywhere had hoped for. In the novel, the reference to the war veterans at the Golden Day touches upon this continous discrimination. In the quote on page 93, the war veteran says,""Ten men in masks drove me out from the city at midnight and beat me with whips for saving a human life. And I was forced to the utmost degradation because i possessed skilled hands and the belief that my knowledge could bring me dignity--not wealth, only dignity--and other men health!"" This quote shows how the war veterans were treated after returning from war. Even after fighting for his country, the war veteran who talks to the Invisible Man and Mr. Norton was beat by masked men despite the fact that he fought to save white lives. When Mr. Norton was having a fit, the Invisible Man was hesitant to bring him to the Golden Day because he was embarassed by those veterans in his own race. However, it was apparent that those veterans had actually fought for a cause in trying to make their race's conditions better while the Invisible Man sat back and allowed the white man to walk all over him. Yet, the Invisible Man regards the praiseworthy veterans as insane members of African American society, which he refuses to assosciate with [1].

The Invisible Man's progression towards his identity follows the progression of the African American's views through the course of history. In the beginning of the novel, the Invisible Man's views are much like those of Booker T. Washington. He wants the respect and recognition of the white man. The school and the Brotherhood really put these ideas into the Invisible Man's head by teaching him to look up to the superior "white man." However, the betrayal of Bledsoe, the dissappearance of Clifton, and the falling apart of the Brotherhood forces the Invisible Man to realize that he needs to be true to himself and his race if he wants any progress to be made. Throughout his personal journey, the Invisible Man is haunted by his grandfather's words of being a traitor. It is not until after he has realized the destruction of the African American's progress that he sees the social responsibility that is necessary to not be a 'traitor' to his people. With not being a traitor comes letting go of fear of being black in a white society to make it a place of change and culture. It is the realization of these ideas that brings the Invisible Man to re-emerge from his 'hide out' and fulfill his social responsibility to his race.


 * Works Cited**:

[1]Ellison, Ralph. __Invisible Man__. New York: Random House Inc., 1952.

[2]Finseth, Ian. "The War Years ." __The Post War Years/Radical Reconstruction__ (1996) 1 March 2008 .

[3]Hayes, Bill. "Three Visions for African Americans." __CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS FOUNDATION__ (2003) 01 March 2008 .

[4]Simken, John. "Booker T Washington." __Spartacus Educational__ (2003) 1 March 2008 .

[5]Yankowitz, Donna. "Booker T. Washington." __Turn of the Century__ (2007) 1 March 2008 .

[6]Rovira, Carlito. "Recontruction and African American Political Power." __Socialism and Liberation__ 05 002 2007 01 March 2008 .