What does it mean to the narrator to be “invisible”?

How does music reflect the journey of his soul?

Who is really the object of degradation during the battle royal?

Is the narrator a fool for giving his speech after being so hideously mistreated?

At the end of the chapter, the narrator’s grandfather appears again to laugh at the message found in the last envelope in the briefcase. Why would he be here? Why would he be laughing?

In the scene between Norton and Trueblood, what is revealed about the true nature of the relationship between blacks and whites in the South?

What would the narrator’s grandfather think of Jim Trueblood?

Comment on whether or not you think Trueblood is aptly named.

The narrator lists the various professions that the asylum inmates have once had. Why does listing them make him feel vaguely uneasy?

Just like our narrator, Mr. Norton is an invisible man to the black people of this chapter. In what way?

For the fourth time now, Ellison has used a kind of surrealistic stream-of-consciousness narration to describe an episode bordering on madness. Is it just because he’s good at it, or do these scenes contribute something to the overall message of the book?

Compare the conversation Mr. Norton has with the insane vet to the conversation he had with Jim Trueblood. Are these men totally unlike each other, or have they something in common? How UNLIKE the narrator are they?

In response to the narrator’s concern that Mr. Norton might die, Halley roars, “He CAIN’T die!” Comment on the significance of this remark.

What would the narrator’s grandfather think about Dr. Bledsoe? What would Jim Trueblood and the insane vet think of him?

What does our narrator admire most about Dr. Bledsoe? How do you feel about that?

The narrator thinks, “He couldn’t have said what I thought he said,” in reference to Dr. Bledsoe. What did he say that so shocked the narrator, and why was the narrator shocked? Does that make him naive?

What is the narrator’s belief about his “place” in the world? What is your opinion of this?

What is “epic” about Homer Barbee’s speech? What has been fictionalized?

The Founder is the third character so far with no name. Comment on this phenomenon.

The Founder suffered a terrible accident as a child. Why was it necessary to the symbolism of the novel for Ellison to include this?

In what way(s) is Homer Barbee blind?

What analogues in classical literature have Barbee, Bledsoe, and the Founder got?

What would the grandfather think about Dr. Bledsoe?

 Is the narrator an idiot or just naive?

 Write a short discourse on Dr. Bledsoe’s definition of power.

 Do you like, hate, admire, or despise Dr. Bledsoe? Why?

If the vet and Dr. Bledsoe sat down to talk without knowing one another, how would they get along?

When the vet says that “so much of his freedom will have to be symbolic,” what do you think he means?

Again, what does the vet mean by “there’s always an element of crime in freedom”?

Based on what the narrator aspires to be in New York, what has he learned from the grandfather, Bledsoe, and the vet?

At the beginning of this chapter, the narrator is still consumed by external images of success and assimilation. Explain.

It is clear that the narrator has no sense of irony. Explain this.

What is the significance of the narrator’s encounter with the blueprint man?

What is the significance of the narrator’s encounter with the counterman?

Compare the “relics” in Mr. Emerson’s “museum” to the ones remembered by the narrator. What kind of comparison is Ellison inviting us to make?

In what ways, since he left the college, has the narrator been obsessed with Dr. Bledsoe?

What kinds of problems does young Mr. Emerson have?

Have we ever read Dr. Bledsoe’s letter before? What was your reaction when you saw it for the first time?

Do you think that the narrator has undergone a change NOW?  

Elaborate on the rebirth imagery in this chapter.

Write about the varieties of name and identity issues that are brought up in here. Where else has the narrator struggled with such issues?

Write about the significance of the line, "When I discover who I am, I'll be free."

Again the chapter has had a chaotic, almost dreamlike quality. In what way does that quality add to the novel and to the narrator's continuing development?

Nothing was actually said about what happened to the narrator to get him into the hospital, nor was anything said about what was done to cure him. We might be safe in assuming that the whole chapter was symbolic of something quite other than a medical treatment. What?

What kind of woman is Mary Rambo? Are we supposed to like her? Do you?

As our narrator enters Men's House, he describes a panoply of characters that might almost be thought of as stereotypes. Are they? If so, of what? Why are they described in such detail?

One almost view the period of time in this chapter as a hibernation, or a quiet development preparing for a new phase. What gives an indication of that?

There is another long narrative episode here revolving around yams. How has the narrator changed his attitude toward food, and what does that say about the change in him?

During the eviction, Ellison gives a long description of the possessions of the old man and woman. How is it that he conveys the character of an entire life by focusing on the things people have amassed?

What effect have the manumission papers upon the narrator? Why should this be the case?

Think carefully now--what was the narrator's speech ABOUT?? Why did it have the effect it did?

The conversation between our narrator and the man we will come to know as Brother Jack has some profound implications. How do the two of them come at the same issue from two different directions? Whose side do you sympathize with? Why?

The beginning of this chapter is filled with images of rebirth, but it is dominated by the mocking cast iron statue. What do you think these images mean for the future of the book?

Our narrator, significantly, cannot rid himself of the package. What does this say about his invisibility and about the nature of the thing he is trying to discard?

This chapter abounds with images of blindness. What are a few, and what do you think Ellison is trying to say through them?

Do you believe the speech is as powerful as the audience seems to deem it? Or do you think it is another bit of empty hot air like he gave at the eviction?

Why does at least one member of the Brotherhood praise his speech with "hate and admiration"?

What was there about the speech that causes several members to blast it as "backward and reactionary"? What is their specific complaint?

Read what the narrator remembers about Woodridge's literature lectures back in college. Why do you think Ellison chose Irish authors here? And what do you think he meant by the quotation he added the italics to?

Comment on the ideological conversation between Brother Jack and the narrator at the beginning of the chapter. Any irony here?

What's your impression of Tod Clifton? What is Ellison trying to create in portraying him as he does?

How is this fight in the street reminiscent of the Battle Royal? (No, not just that its a fight scene!)

At the end of Ras's exhortation, Tod Clifton spins around and punches him to the ground. Why? Do you think Ras has a good point, or is he just a raving lunatic?

What has our narrator (or anybody in here) got in common with Frederick Douglass?

By the end of this chapter, our narrator has arrived at the pinnacle of his success. What is your prediction from this point on? Why?

Brother Tarp's leg chain link has a lot in common with Primus Provo's free papers. Comment on this.

Write about the anonymous letter our narrator receives. What do you think it presages for him? What kind of person inside or outside the Brotherhood could have sent it?

What is Brother Wrestrum's private agenda do you think?

In what ways is Brother Wrestrum like Bledsoe?

Our narrator has gone from speaking on evictions to speaking on "the Woman Question." What does this say about him and about the Brotherhood's ideology?

This white woman, like all the other characters in this novel, has imposed an identity on our narrator. What is THIS one?

What is the effect on our narrator of mixing the ideological with the biological? What is the significance of this episode?

What is the cause of the anger and resentment our narrator meets with in Barrelhouse's bar? In what way does this show things slipping away from our narrator?

We are horrified to see what Tod Clifton has descended to. What has brought him to this, and what message is he trying to convey by selling these  obscene dolls?

Comment on the general significance of the quote "All things, it is said, are duly recorded--all things of importance, that is. But not quite, for actually it is only the known, the seen, the heard and only those events that the recorder regards as important that are put down, those lies his keepers keep their power by."

Why does our narrator want to trip the shopkeeper who is chasing the boys who just shoplifted candy from his store?

Our narrator mixes up memories of Tod's doll and the clothesline peddler's bell. What is he telling us?

The narrator's oration over Tod Clifton is strangely different from the narrator's other speeches; it's more objective. What exactly does this mean, and what implications does it have for the narrator's growing self-awareness?

What, exactly, are Brother Jack and the rest of the Brotherhood so angry about?

How do you feel about our narrator now? How is he handling himself in this meeting?

When our narrator tells Brother Jack that the people on the street have been accusing them of betrayal, Jack brands this news an "indefensible lie." What does that tell you about the Brotherhood and its ideology?

Our narrator suggests to Brother Jack that Brother Jack recommend an oculist so that "I may not-see myself as others see-me-not." In light of what's just happened, comment on this odd remark.

What is the overall significance of the thing which erupted from Jack's face and landed in the water glass?

Contrast the episode with Sybil with the episode with the white woman from the lecture in Chapter 19. How differently are we to feel this time? Why? Who is in control?

The chase after Sybil at the end of this chapter has some of the strongest mythological overtones of the entire novel. What are they, and why do you think Ellison uses them so powerfully just now?

The briefcase now comes into its own as the most enduring symbol in the novel. What's going into it that is of such importance? What does it all mean? Most importantly, what comes OUT OF IT at the end that has so much profound meaning for our tale?

Just as Peter denied Christ three times, so our narrator denies who HE is three times. Why and where? What could it all mean for his developing self?

In what way is Ras a puppet for the white power structure in this chapter? Or is he?

Look carefully at the "dream" in italics at the end. Look up the myth of Cronos in Greek mythology and compare it to this, looking too at the story of the Founder. What is the narrator trying to say here?

In what way does our narrator now understand the grandfather's advice? Or does he understand it?

Our narrator celebrates diversity over conformity. Place this idea in context for us. Consider especially the line, "One of the greatest jokes in the world is the spectacle of the whites busy escaping blackness and becoming blacker every day, and the blacks striving toward whiteness and becoming quite dull and gray."

Overall, where would you rank Invisible Man among other great (and minor) works of literature that you've read? Those interviewed in the American Masters video that we watched think that he ranks up there with Homer's contribution to the Greeks, Joyce's contribution to the Irish, and Twain's contribution to America. They consider him to be the quintessential voice for the black man and woman in the 20th century. Is he?