The Coward or The Sane - Essay Example

During his tenure as the spokesman of the party he encounters many people and situations that slowly force him to face the truth about racism and his own lack of individuality. With the continuation of racism tensions in Harlem, he gets caught up in a rebellion that drives him to a manhole, where in the darkness and solitude, he begins to understand himself - his invisibility, his existence, his purpose and his identity. In the same manhole he decides to write his story down and he vows to enter the world again when he is finished.

In the prologue of the book the narrator introduces himself as the Invisible Man, presenting himself as both a character and as a theme, because others choose not to see him and he hates this treatment and fights this by retaliation. His invisibility is representative of the fact that the United States, controlled as it is in its economic and social racism, gives him no identity. He recounts past incident of his life where he had a ferocious fight with a white man just because that man had rudely knocked him down and finally stopped short of murdering that man realizing that the man had never seen him.

The narrator refers such people like the white man who deliberately or un-deliberately ignore him as sleep walkers as they shoes to remain ignorant. The novel explains how the invisible man understands the power of invisibility and realized that he is not bound to follow the rules of visible people. He also mentioned the electricity he steals from the Monopolized Power Company to lighten the abandoned basement where he currently lives. He needs that light to feel alive, and recognize him as light according to him represents the truth of his being and one day people will also see him and he would no longer be invisible.

The narrator explains his need for sound as well as the feeling of being under the influence of Marijuana and how he mentally returns from that influence. He resolves not to smoke any more marijuana, since it distorts his drive to take appropriate action. It is a story of his early incorruptibility, his ultimate disappointment, and his recent surprise about his own identity. When he figures out what to do, he does not want to be prevented from doing it. He further defines his current period of hibernation as a stage of preparation for the action he will soon be ready to take as he will make himself visible by writing the sound of his voice in notes on the pages of a book.

He responds to those who would call him irresponsible by clearly pointing out the fact that there is no one to whom he can be responsible as recognition is necessary for the responsibilities and no one recognizes him. The scene in chapter 25 of the book is full of aggression, disorder, and disorder, but it is also the scene wherein the narrator is suddenly able to understand each and everything fully. Hambro has told him that some will be sacrificed for the good of the whole. The some being sacrificed are the black men, and the whole advantaged from this sacrifice are the white men.

The Brotherhood has all along wanted to turn the black men against each another and to create dispute amongst them so that they can never unite, so that they can eliminate themselves. The rioting is a vital part of their plan. With sickening clearness, the narrator realizes that he has been totally duped. He thought he was tricking the Brotherhood,