Imagery In The Invisible Man By Ralph Ellison

One of the first uses of this imagery is seen when Miss Susie Gresham, one of the college’s Negro founders goes to listen to Reverend Barbee in the chapel of the college. It is here where their vision incapabilties are capitalized into the role of race in the novel. First, we note that Miss Susie Gresham sits in this chapel with her eyes closed so that “she only hears the sounds of the words but does not see who makes them” (Bloch 1020). As she listens to Reverend Barbee give a eulogy on the college’s founder, an extreme white supremacist, praising him for his “form of greatness worthy of your imitation” (Ellison 133). However, when the Invisible Man notices a small commotion in the chapel during the eulogy, we discover another use of sight

Both are unable to see their distorted actions; accepting the actions of those who treated them so cruelly. Ellison illustrates the lack of vision used to capture how African Americans initially reacted to racism – with negligence and no action. Ellison provides this imagery to display Miss Susie Gresham and Reverend Barbee’s incompetence of fighting back for their respect as people of color. Bloch says it best when she notes that Ellison with this imagery they are given the “inability to perceive the real needs of their people and the true motives of the white men.” (Bloch

He joins the Brotherhood, which is a group that stands for black and white unity. The Brotherhood appeared ideal for the Invisible Man, for their members of all different races seemed to share the same hopes. However, the good starts to fold over once the true colors of the members start showing. In a heated discussion with Brother Jack, a white man and the head of the Brotherhood, the Invisible Man tells him how the people of Harlem question the Brotherhood’s motives. Brother Jack is bewildered at the fact and says that the Brotherhood’s role is to tell others how to think. He is so mad that he even his eyes start to pop out of his head, well, just his left eye in this case.
“seeing him above me and the others behind him as suddenly something seemed to erupt out of his face…I stared at the glass, seeing how the light shone through, throwing a transparent, precisely fluted shadow against the dark grain of the table, and there on the bottom of the glass lay an eye. A glass eye. A buttermilk white eye distorted by the light rays” (Ellison